So everyone and their dog loves to play a comp stomp or ladder game on StarCraft 2, but the campaign mode provides some really cool features that we’d like to cover. There are mission upgrade points, research opportunities, and side missions available throughout the campaign, and many of them provide some useful upgrades. Continue reading
For the past few weeks, Thousands of players throughout the world have been discovering the interesting new features in StarCraft 2. We’ve chosen to cover some of the productivity tools we’ve discovered during our time, and we are going to focus on a few of them in this In Depth article. Continue reading
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last two years, then you’ve probably heard about StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. This game delivers a much-needed refresh to Blizzard Entertainment’s product offering, having gone stale, with their focus remaining with their popular title “World of Warcraft.”
First of all, this game feels like it’s more of a refresh then a new title all together. The gameplay is identical to the original StarCraft, with the same buildings and units. Their have been some additions, but overall it takes the same feel as their previous version. There is a big difference between the original though, there isn’t an option for Protoss or Zerg campaign modes, you can only play as the Terran. Perhaps the other campaigns will be released in the next chapters of the StarCraft 2 trilogy (but more on that later).
The graphics on this game are fantastic (playing on a 27 inch screen doesn’t hurt, either), and overall the game has a modern, polished visual quality to it. The cinematic cut scenes are exceptional, Blizzard made sure to put some extra time into that area.
There are additional advancements to the game that don’t actually take place in the missions, but in the campaign lobby. By completing missions you can earn points, these points go towards unit upgrades that are then automatically applied in-game.
Those geniuses over at blizzard also included the map editor that was so popular in the original StarCraft, allowing players to create their own map variations and triggers. I know I’m excited to blast through the campaign mode and start tinkering.
So far, this game has been epic, although I am partial to StarCraft, having grown up playing it during LAN Parties and the like. If you’ve played the original StarCraft, then this game will fit right into your collection.
I’m just scraping the surface on this game, and it’s already got me really excited. I will be posting In-Depth articles about each of the campaign missions, the map editor, online strategies, as well as an occasional video.
Here’s a game that will keep the party bumping! Fuzion Frenzy 2 offers an arcade style matchup for up to 4 players in a variety of game types. This game is a combination of crazy asian space daydreams and the cult classic television show “American Gladiators”.
The variety of mini-games is really what seems to be the best about this game. Each game type is different so you don’t have one person dominating the game entirely (because we all know that sucks). You can choose a tournament style where the winner of each mini-game gets a point. Or you can just select random mini-games at will.
Overall, this game was very entertaining for a group or family setting. There’s not a lot of gaming skills required, which works out perfect for your mom, your 10 year old cousins, maybe your girlfriend? You could even take it one step further and make up your own rules outside the game for handling the winning and losing players.
Our Recommendation: If you want to host a family get-together with some not-so-into-gaming types, then you should definitely buy this game.
“The Truth Is Written In Blood” – What better way to say it. Assassin’s Creed 2 puts you inside the memories of a 15th century Italian named Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, the son of an Assassin who’s just lost his father to corrupt politicians and the scheming of the Templar’s.
But let’s step back a moment though, “In the memories of”? What’s up with that?
Well, the battle of good and evil, the Assassins and Templars, apparently spans throughout history, and even into the future. So the game is actually based in the future, but you’re being transmitted into the memories of your long-dead ancestor.
Confused Yet? Don’t worry too much about it.
All you need to know is that your goal in the game is to replicate your ancestors memories as close as possible. You missions are called memory sequences, you can take side jobs, and you get to run all up and down ancient Italy. This game is all about blending in when it counts. You have to sneak past guards and into secret meetings.
The controls are actually pretty cool. Imagine a puppet hooked up to your controller. The individual buttons control different parts of the body, such as your head, armed hand, empty hand, and feet. You can sprint up walls, bound over the tops of buildings, and perform aerial drop assassinations
The game plays very smoothly. You can climb on, literally, anything within the map. You can slide past guards while blending in with the crowds, and then you strike your target with deadly force.
For an RPG, this game seems like it gives you a lot of freedom in your actions. Most RPG’s can only handle a linear storyline, while this game does have it’s limits, they’ve really done a great job of masking the linear story, allowing for ample amounts of free play.
Our recommendation: Get this game ASAP! If you liked Fable, or any other RPG, then you are sure to LOVE this game.
Imagine an RPG where every decision you make affects your future, how the non-player characters react to you, and even how fat your character looks. Well, that game is here. Enter, Fable 2.
Fans of the original Fable for XBOX will be ecstatic with the newest installment of the Fable franchise. The game plays smoother than the original, with more realistic animations, and the map is huge! Added features from the original game include variable girth depending on what your character eats, stepped spells that cast stronger spells the longer you hold the cast button, and more advanced alignment attributes.
Overall, we ran into a couple glitches in the story mode that could only be corrected by turning off the console and losing 15 minutes of play time, though he rest of the game ran smoothly. The graphics were better than the original, best compared to the graphical quality of the MMORPG World of Warcraft.
The Co-op mode will give you a headache, and there’s no online multi-player feature. Both players have to be within range of the camera, and you can probably get used to it after a while, but we just didn’t see the benefits.
A final observation, the story took a very linear approach, keeping users fed in the same path and providing minimal replay value. The entire story can be completed in around 8 to 10 hours of play time if you speed through it, but we recommend taking time to explore.
The story culminates with the ultimate decision: A boatload of money, Saving your lost loved ones, or sacrificing your own interests for the better good. You can continue the story without any real objective afterward, and it’s entirely up to you. Which one will you choose? Just remember that it will change your game forever.
Stay Tuned: Lionhead Studios is currently on the development stages for the next installment, Fable 3. As soon as we can get a copy, we’ll review and spill all the juicy details.
If you’re looking to bust some moves on the Covenant as Master Chief, then you should have probably stuck with Halo 3.
Halo Wars is an entirely different type of game from the Halo franchise, and it’s something entirely new on the general market as well. The closest thing we could really compare it to would be the legendary real-time strategy game, Starcraft.
Most of the game controls come from a rotary menu, where you can select items on the menu by moving the joystick in the direction of the icon. Building, Upgrading, and Ordering Units all come off this menu. You can only build on designated base footings planted on each map, and you can either collect resources from the map, or you can create the equivalent of a supply depot. Each base has a limited number of construction pads for you to build facilities on, but they can be upgraded from 3 pads to 5 or 7 construction pads.
The campaign mode is fairly tricky. Each map takes around 1 hour to complete, and usually when you fail, it’s within the last 10 minutes. Nothing sucks worse than getting to the last few minutes of a scenario and having to restart everything from scratch.
The online mode is similarly frustrating, as the game never really took off on a mass scale as it was originally intended. Typically you will find less than 5000 players “Online” although many of those “Online” players are already in skirmishes. If you queue up for a round, beware, the best match system won’t really provide a “best-match” room, instead, it’s likely that total beginners will end up playing with a seasoned veteran, and the game will be over before you know it.
Our recommendation: If you loved Starcraft, then buy it and stay in the campaign mode. Don’t plan on playing online unless it’s to skirmish against your friends or to get your tail handed to you.
Based in the Deserted Condo’s and High Rise Casino’s of sin city, this first person shooter puts you right in behind the blazing guns of a Rainbow Six agent in the fight to stop terrorists from destroying Las Vegas.
The story mode starts you off in a no-win hostage situation, where regardless of what you do, the negotiator still gets his brains splattered. The controls are everything to be expected out of a Tom Clancy team-based tactical shooter game.
Online Multi-Player has it’s perks too. Unlike other games common these days, you can choose from either a versus match where you play against other Live Players, or you can select a “Terrorist Hunt” mode where you and a team of up to four players attempt to clear a map of varying amounts of terrorist on a range of difficulty settings.
The game play is good overall, with only small quirks noticed here and there. The story mode is well played out as well, and many of the stages will challenge your skills as a shooter.
Online play has probably passed its high point though, as many of the previous R6V2 faithful have abandoned it for the newer, more advanced Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.
So I think there are a lot of different strategies when setting up your custom classes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Do you go for speed, stealth, power? Should you break out the Noob Tube (M203 Grenade Launcher attachment) and Danger Close for the most impact? Or do you pick your favorite silenced sniper rifle and hang out in the bush?
I find that most of my loadouts use One Man Army Pro. I find it useful to be able to switch classes mid-game and refresh my ammo, not to mention that you can drop unlimited claymores. I occasionally break out the sprinter class with Marathon Pro, Lightweight Pro, and Ninja Pro along with my Tactical Knife attachment.
So here’s the question, what is your favorite loadout to use, or what strategies do you find most useful?
College football has got to be one of the most exciting sports on the planet. The epic rivalries, the dynamic showdowns, the BCS constantly screwing everyone (wait, what?). It should come as no surprise that the geniuses over at EA Sports have decided to bring that huge rivalry tension into their newest installment of what has to be one of the greatest sports video games ever.
During it’s initial release, and the 2009 to 2010 football season, EA Sports provided an in-game rivalry feature called Season Showdown that lets players earn points for their favorite team that are totalled at the end of the season. The goal was to earn points based on play style, and eventually they would use those points to calculate an automated playoff system. While it did make the game interesting, I think it just annoyed anyone who wasn’t playing for a dynasty school.
The game runs pretty smooth and the graphics aren’t anything to complain about. The player movements are fairly realistic as well. At times I ran into the automatic announcer messages overlapping each other, so maybe it queued up two sound files at the same time. Usually the dialogue was pretty good, but occasionally it got annoying.
The dynasty mode has always been my favorite game type. I love taking my team to the top, year after year. The recruiting is easy to manage, and they even included some optional accessories such as additional pipleline states, unlocking all recruiting promises, and even a recruiting advisor, but they all come at a nominal fee.
Like most sports games, the main point for this release was probably to update rosters and possibly plug in one or two new features behind the scenes. Nothing too groundbreaking. I must admit that the Season Showdown feature could be a great addition, but only if they try and even out the points system to make it more competitive for the smaller schools.
Our Recommendation: If you like college football, Get It! If you like football in general, Get It! This game brings some excellent features and entertaining gameplay.
