While I seldom post announcements, this is a special case. Episode 1 of the Walking Dead Season 2 was released on Monday, December 16 of 2013. I have been awaiting this with high anticipation since the conclusion of season 1, and the release of 400 Days. Telltale has been working a few projects since the concluding of Season 1 including a game that I reviewed at a earlier date called the Wolf Among Us which takes place in the setting of the comics series Fables, but with their own little twist, but you may consult by review of that at a later time. Lets play catch-up with the events of season 2. ALERT SPOILERS: For those who have not played Episode 5, DO NOT READ THIS. Unless you don't intend to play the game. To read the blacked out text, highlight it and will be readable:
In episode 5 of season 1, after Lee was bitten by a zombie. The player has two options, either cut off Lee's bitten arm or leave it be. Regardless of what the player chooses, Lee WILL die. This made me very sad. Throughout episode 5, you are charged with rescuing Clementine from the Stranger who has captured her. In the fast pace of turning events, Kenny (Lee's best buddy who's been through so much shit with Lee, including Kenny losing his son due to being bitten by a zombie, then Lee has to shoot him so Kenny didn't have to) sacrifices himself to save Ben, another guy in the group. But it turns out that Ben impaled himself on a balcony that broke and fell as he tried to jump from it to a near-by rooftop to join the others. Being surrounded on both sides of the alley by zombies, Kenny tells Lee to get out of there and save Clementine. Lee tells Kenny he's not leaving him, but Lee is locked out of the ally and can only hopelessly watch as Kenny is surrounded by walkers. Kenny stayed behind to shoot Ben to make sure he didn't suffer. Eventually after fighting through large hordes of zombies to the hotel where Clementine is being held by the strange man. After Lee finds the room where Clementine is being held, he talks to the stranger, fights the stranger, and then kills the stranger. Lee opens the doors that exit the room, Lee comes face to face with a walker, who doesn't attack him, but walks by him towards Clementine. Lee kills the zombie and then makes the relation that the walker didn't attack him because he had walker blood all over him. Lee smears this on Clementine so the walkers outside do not attack her. After doing this, they take to the streets, walking among the dead, unnoticed by the zombies. Clementine sees her parents, now zombies, she freezes, Lee tries to get her to look away, but passes out from his infectious bite, which is killing him. Clementine somehow drags a full grown man through a bunch of zombies into a jewelry shop where there safe. Lee tells her that he was bitten and that she has to leave. After a fight with a walker for his gun and keys, Clementine has to kill Lee. I cried, tears were running down my face, the sad music playing, and then she shoots him. The epilogue shows Clementine outside of Savannah by herself, she stops to rest for awhile and sees in the distance two figures walking on a hill. They stop and look at her. The season ends there.
So in season 2, the story of Clementine will continue, for better or worse. Also the choices you made in season 1 and 400 Days will cross over to this, so I hope you choose wisely. I hope you all have enjoyed this announcement and I will be back next year with more reviews. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off with good cheer.
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, today I'm going to be reviewing one of the first FPS games to grace the earth, and its still good today, maybe not by graphics, but by gameplay. That epic game is Doom. First released on December 10, 1993 by id Software. For all the FPS fans out there, you basically have this game to thank for the rise in popularity of the shooting genre. This game sparked a revolution for its kind, greater titans like Half Life and Halo: Combat Evolved, but the big push came from DOOM. Now then, lets set the scene for this ground breaking adventure. While the protagonist is never named, he is simply called "Doomguy" by the community. Though there is no cinematic opening or cut-scenes to direct the plot, there is instead a interactive system similar to Half Life, where the player lives the game.
Anyway the game starts in the distant future a company known as the UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation) is the military's biggest contractor, also conducted top secret experiments in its waste disposal plants on Mars. Interdementional technology has given man the technology to stretch across the galaxy. This has yielded incredible results for the UAC, allow portals to connect Mar's two moons, Fobos and Demos. While objects can pass through the portals without being harmed, the same cannot be said for humans, who become hostile after being sent through the portal, following that they explode. Now talking about you, you are a marine who assaulted his superior officer for being ordered to fire on civilians. As punishment, Doomguy has been stationed on Mars with absolutely nothing to do. But then suddenly the station receives a urgent distress call from Fobos saying the something hostile has come out of the portal and that Demos has disappeared from Mar's orbit altogether. Being the only combat-ready team for millions of miles, it fall to your squad to investigate this distress beacon on Fobos. After arriving at the station, you are put on lookout duty in the hanger in which you arrived. Then suddenly you hear your squad mates being slaughtered over the radio by demons, yes, demons from hell. It seems that the portal technology that UAC was using has opened a gateway to Hell. Now it falls to you, to fight your way through demons to find out whats going on and to eliminate every enemy that stands in your way. Also your squad took all the guns and left you with only a pistol, brilliant, eh?
You will also be riding alone for this adventure. However, you will be armed with a large arsenal of weapons including the pistol, shotgun, mini-gun, rocket launcher, plasma rifle, chainsaw and energy cannon. While there are even more weapons Doomguy has at his disposal,it would take to long to name them all. The games combat system revolves around fast movement and a faster trigger finger. While encounter the often possibility of encountering many enemies at once, you will have to move fast around them while shooting at them, fun! Throughout the world the player will find pickups including guns, ammo, armor, temporary power-ups, and most importantly, KEYS! These red, blue, and yellow cards will allow the player to unlock certain colored doors, this is a huge concept displayed throughout the game and finding these cards is your only hope of unlocking these doors, without them you will not be able to progress throughout the level and overall game, so look harder. Doom was a huge milestone when it came to the FPS genre, and even today we must thank it for making action gaming what it is today. I hope you have enjoyed this post and I will be back next week. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Today I don't have a game to review, but something more to add to a game. What I'm trying to say is this is more of a announcement than a review. So many months back a dedicated team of moders got together, took a awesome open world game that originally was a single player game and make it compatible for multiple people to play together. May sound easy but this takes weeks or even months of converting to allow servers to run off the game's engine. The modification has been under development since July of 2012, undergoing seventeen beta tests since its release. Scattered throughout the this year and the last, the tests started out small, hidden and reserved for the teams IRC channel and twitter followers. It slowly became more well known to the gaming community as it became public and after many beta tests it was a highly anticipated release with every beta test released until the community screamed for the completion of the mod. Until finally a few days ago they announced the seventeenth and final beta test before the official release. In preparation the creators are
giving out beta keys to download and play the mod on Steam as you would any Steam game, but you do need to have the actual game to play the mod, but don't worry, its worth it. So the final beta test is taking place between December 7 to the 14th before they announce when the mod will officially be released for a permanent stay. So great mod, really fun, and their are moments when I just go gut busting laughing at things in this mod. I hope you leave here more informed than you came, take care and I will be back next Wednesday with a real post. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, hope your all doing well. Today I'm reviewing a game that I think is truly unique experience in co-operative gaming. Now I usually don't review sequels, but with this game other than the characters theirs not much plot to explain. PAYDAY 2 returns with the four main protagonists Dallas, Hoxton, Chains, and Wolf. As you once again step into the shoes of these men, you have a simple goal: get into the bank, get the money and have your payday. Or at least thats what it used to be, now there's so much more. Jewelry stores, strip malls, gold deposits, and so many more heists than the last game. More guns are now available with more attachments and color schemes, provided you are high enough level to unlock them, also have to have the money to purchase them. Taking place in Washington D.C, the player has the ability to customize their character via a mask that can be edited to be awesome, provided you have the money, color scheme, material and design for the mask. So anyway, your in D.C. linked in with something called Crime Net, a crime planning program that helps you choose jobs to hit with friends and hopefully make it back to your safe-house in one piece. All provided by your best unseen friend BANE, the creator of Crime Net and mastermind of the criminal underworld. He will guild you through jobs via his associates, recommend the job best suited to your level and skill and guides you through the mission as it
Defending against the Feds on a jewelry store heist
happens. Another new feature, or at least a feature in development, is your safehouse. This is your home away from homes, this is where you spend your downtime after the heist. Your money, masks, and weapons are stored here, The developers say that in later updates that the option to customize your safe-house and possibly share it with friends. These are some of many new features introduced in this kick-ass sequel. For those of you who have never played a PAYDAY game, I'll walk through the basics. I'll talk about a bank heist, original and fun. You begin across the street from the bank in a alleyway. Depending on what apparel you chose to wear, for example heavy armor equals lots of protection while less visible armor offers less protection, but also a less likely possibility of being detected while in plain sight. So if you have no armor on you could basically walk through the front door until you put your mask on, which triggers combat mode, meaning you can now shoot stuff and will be detected. So before you enter the bank, you will have to grab a drill used to drill through the vault. After you enter the bank, you have the option of taking care of security problems, like disabling security cameras, zip-ting guards, and jamming outgoing transmissions. So after this you are drilling through the vault, this will take awhile so depending if you have tripped the alarm or not, you will fortify your position with planks you can find to board up windows. You can also plant trip-mines, zip-tie civilians to serve as hostages that will b used to bargain with police if you are taken into custody. After holding out for a while against SWAT teams or waiting peacefully, sipping tea waiting for the drill to finish, the doors will open and there will be THE VAULT, that thing full of millions of dollars in cash and gold. So you will throw all this cash into bags that you will carry out and throw in the van, after all the bags are loaded into the back, get in the van and your done. It sounds simple, but you got to waver through the large groups of enemies to get it gone. Also, if any of the crew is captured, after loading the bags, the game will recommission you to a "escape" mission in which you hold out until the van arrives. Other than that, there's not too much to it. Although its hard to describe this game without writing a book. So I'll just leave it at awesome game 9.4/10 in my opinion. I hope you have all enjoyed this and I will be back in two weeks, Thanksgiving and all. So until next time. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
awesome trailer, recommend watching in fullscreen HD
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, hope your life is filled with happiness and puppies, lots of puppies. Okay, so as mentioned in last weeks post, I will be reviewing possibly the best free-running game of the generation; Mirror's Edge. Developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and produced by Electronic Arts, Mirror's Edge was released on November 12, 2008 on Xbox 360 & PS3, while it was released for PC on January 13, 2009. The game received many awards but criticism was mainly focused at the short story and overall play time. However the game introduced many new concepts to the parkour genre such as first person running along with a mix of combat and running, making it a unique experience among games. The game also displays a new form of free running including sliding under barriers, tumbling, wall-running, and shimmying across ledges allowing a greater sense of movement along the roofs and occasionally streets. One of the little things I loved about the game is that there is no heads up display, allowing a more realistic first person view. The player can also see their arms and legs, instead of just being a floating head jumping over buildings. So the plot of the game is set in the nearby future in a dystopian city where the inhabits live in a peaceful crime free environment. However, this peace is held up with that of government tyranny in which a militarized police force keeps the population in check via fear and force. 10 years prior to the game, a numerous amounts of highly populated riots were held against the government tyranny. Faith was part of these riots when she was a little girl, her mother was killed by the police, commonly called "Blues". The riots were eventually ended by the Blues, but there were those who were condemned to death or prison if caught. You are Faith, a member of the Runners, those who deliver messages and packages across the city, employed by the criminally condemned who serve as their clients. The game starts out with a introduction narrated by Faith explaining her identity and so forth. After a quick training course, you run across the city, encountering Blues along the way and then deliver a package, followed by a escape away from the Blues. While at Merc's headquarters (Merc is the man who arranges the Runner's contract and also trained Faith) there is a heavy audio traffic coming from a office building, that Faith's sister, Kate is in. While trying to get a read on the situation, Merc pops back in from a contract he was running, Faith tells him to monitor her while she runs to the office building. After running across town to the office building and encountering several Blues along the way, Faith enters the offices to find her sister in the large office of Tomas Pope, human rights activist fighting for more freedom in the oppressed city. He is dead, and Kate was set up and will be framed for it. You flee the office after a conversation with Kate and grabbing a piece of ripped paper supposedly from Pope's journal reading Icarus". It is up to Faith to prove Kate innocent and find out what Project Icarus is. Throughout the game the player will thrive to discover these secrets, aside from the main story there are also time trails that can be undertaken to test ones ability in their skills of free running. I really enjoyed the game and would give it a 9.4 of 10. Great game and I hear a second one is coming out within the next year or so. I hope you all have enjoyed this review and I will be back next Wednesday with another post. Until then, have fun. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Mirror's Edge Trailer, watch in 720 HD for full effect
Hello everyone and happy November. I hope life is going good for you because at any moment the zombie apocalypse could occur causing everyone you know and care about could be eaten alive by undead monsters. Just kidding, but today we will talk about a game following that premise, that game is No More Room in Hell, a Source Modification turned into a official game with awesome models, weapons, and audio. No More Room in Hell was released in beta form on Halloween 2011 by the NMRiH Development Team. That game utilizes survival horror. Guns and ammunition are limited, but available, melee weapons are very useful. Varying from two handed weapons; which are more powerful but slower, then there are one-handed weapons that are faster and the player can hold a flashlight, which are very useful considering most of the games maps are dark to the point that visibility is not possible. No More Room in Hell has a vast amount of guns, varying from civilian weapons, to law-enforcement and finally military grade weapons, which are hardest to come by, but be conservative with your ammo because you got to split the guns between up to 8 team members, so don't be greedy, it's one of the 7 deadly sins of gaming. A lot about this game is that you got to be a team player, I've played by myself and with other players. I enjoy playing with other players because if you work together properly you'll survive, however if someone hogs all the guns, blows through ammo like its never going to run out, and doesn't work like a team player, its gonna suck. Also when on a team its nice to have someone watching your back, because if your hit three times by a zombie, your gonna die and turn into one. There are two ways to prevent this, you can take pills to prolong your death, meaning it doesn't cure you, and then theirs bandages and first aid kits. These are used to heal you after you've fallen, taken friendly fire, or if your really lucky you were attacked by a zombie and didn't get infected, these healies can fix you up.
A nice freezeframe of a zombie getting its brains splattered all over the walls. Ah, the apocalypse.
When jumping online or staying in your own lobby there are two game modes currently available, Objective and survival. I prefer objective where you follow a series of tasks while finding supplies that eventually leads to becoming rescued. In survival you must survive a number of waves in which zombies will attack you and your team. To prevent this, the player can nail each board to doors and windows to prevent the zombies from breaking in, however they can break down these barriers, but it will buy you time. Don't worry though, you wont have to wade through waves of zombies un-supplied, with each wave that passes, more weapons and ammo spawn in. Other than all that there is not much else to say about the game, although it was named Mod of the Year in 2011 by PC Gamer Magazine. For those of you who love zombie and have a little time on their hands, this game is for you, and don't worry you penny-less bums, this game is free and has low requirements, meeting the standards of most computers. Well, I hope you have all enjoyed this post and I'll be back next week with the best parkour game of the decade: Mirror's Edge. Until then, happy weekend, also, I'm not telling you what to do with your hard earned money, BUT BUY GRAND THEFT AUTO 5, its one of the best games that I've seen in a long time. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone and happy Halloween. Now some people would guess that I would do Halloween themed game, but due to my lack of preparation I will not be doing a game fitting that criteria. Instead I will be reviewing a game that takes place inside a office building- OR DOES IT!!
This, my friends, is the Stanley Parable, which will be the longest game you will ever play because it doesn't end, you can keep playing it over and over and over again, all with different outcomes. So its pretty awesome, least to say. I will now attempt to explain the concept of the Stanley Parable to the best of my extent....BUT FIRST, a word from the developers and composers. The Stanley Parable was made off the Source Engine like so many other awesome games such as Garry's Mod, Team Fortress 2 and Half Life 2. The game is a first-person interactive fiction modification, meaning mod, that was developed by Davey Wreden and composed by Blake Robinson the game was released on July 27, 2013 and was remade into a separate actual game on October 17, 2013. The game doesn't allow any combat sequences, but instead controls the protagonist, through a surreal environment, while being narrated by British actor Keven Brighting.
The "Mind Control Facility" in both the original mod (top) and remake (bottom). The mod's environment was primarily created by Wreden using default models in the Source engine, but Pugh helped to significantly improve the game's assets for the remake.
The game takes place in a office building where the player assumes the role of Stanley, an office employee whose job it is to follow commands that appear on his monitor without question. Then one day his monitor is blank, after waiting quite a while no new orders come in and finally he exits his office to find everyone has disappeared. From this point the player takes control of Stanley and investigates the mysterious disappearances of all of Stanley's co-workers. On of the unique concepts of the Stanley Parable is that the player can choose to follow the narrators choices or make their own path. For example near the start of the game, the player encounters two open doors and the narrator says Stanley goes through the door on the left, now Stanley can either choose to go through the door or take the one on the right, when you do this the narrator will adjust his narration to accommodate to the different choice Stanley has made while sounding slightly annoying that Stanley didn't follow the story. This is one of the many choices the player can make while going through the game, allowing them to play through the story while varying the game experience depending on the choices the player has made. This allows for as many playthroughs as the player desires. Overall, I would give this game a 8.1 for a enjoyable unique experience. Only fifth-teen dollars for the game on Steam, totally worth it. I hope you have all enjoyed this review and happy Halloween 2013. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone, I hope you have had good last couple of weeks, sorry about no posts last week, I should have posted a notice but I forgot about it among the crowds of life. But anyway I'm back this week with another review complementing one of the best games I've seen in a long time. A new game made by the creators of the Walking Dead Game comes a new game called The Wolf Among Us. The Wolf Among Us is a episodic graphic adventure (added a link for those of you who might be lost to what kind of platform that is) developed and produced by TellTale Games. Based off the comic book series "Fables" by Bill Willingham, The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 received positive reviews upon its recent release on October 11 of this year. For those of you viewing this from the future, the year is 2013. Anyway The Wolf Among Us takes place in a place called Fabletown located in Manhattan where Fables live who have been exiled from their homelands including fables such as Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Icabod Crane, the Woodsman and countless other storybook characters who have been living among mundanes for hundreds of years. This game really synthesized on the saying "deathless as a fable". Displaying their near invincible qualities throughout the game such taking an axe in the head, getting shot in the heart, and getting thrown out of three story windows, that sort of thing. Other than Fabletown, alot of creatures who cant pass for humans such giants, animals and so forth are sent to The Farm located in upstate New York away from mundanes unless they can afford a glamour, a magical spell that can be purchased from which to make the user appear human. These glamours must be used by any non-human like fables under threat of being sent to
Bigby fighting the Woodsman after getting word of that he was causing trouble and would not calm down
The Farm, which despite its large space and open areas, it is looked upon as a prison by its inhabitants and the rest of Fabletown. The main protagonist of the game is Bigby Wolf formally known as the Big Bad Wolf who has reformed himself, trying to put his past behind him, and been charged as sheriff of Fabletown to protect these fables from each other. Hailing from the provinces of the Dark Forest, Bigby was recruited by Snow White to serve as Fabletown's sheriff and using a enchanted dagger in a ritual it granted Bigby the ability to shift from human to wolf form or something in the middle as seen on the cover displayed above.
The game opens with Bigby riding in a taxi cab in the middle of the night to an apartment complex where he going to take care of a fable who is trashing the place. Bigby arrives at the complex to find Mr. Toad (a three foot tall toad who owns the complex) standing at the bottom of the stairway. Bigby tells him the rules in Fabletown is that he needs to be glamoured at all times when stepping out of house. This is the first contact the player will have with interaction system, where Bigby either can be patient with Mr. Toad or be aggressive and threaten him. After a conversation with Mr. Toad Bigby heads upstairs to find the Woodsman drunk and beating on a girl. Bigby intervenes by pinning the Woodsman against the wall followed by a brief discussion involving their past that results in a fight in which Bigby has the option to through the Wooodsman into different objects in the apartment. About halfway through the fight the Woodsman grabs his ax and attempts to kill Bigby in his drunken rage, Bigby dodges the ax, wrestles it from the Woodsman grip, and uses the handle to stun the Woodsman, breaking his jaw. Bigby goes to talk to the girl the Woodsman was beating on and asking her what happened, after doing so the Woodsman causes frequently at Bigby while cracking his jaw into place. He rants on about he saved Red Riding Hood, cut the wolf's belly open and filled it with stones, indicating the rough past these two shared. Bigby asks the girl to excuse him a minute and lunges at the Woodsman.
Bigby lying on Toad's crushed car
The two crash through the wall out of the three story building resulting in Bigby crushing Toad's car and the Woodsman lands on the sidewalk next to the car. Bigby blacks out for a moment before coming to and taking note of the Woodsman unconscious beside him and Mr. Toad standing next to his car with a horrified look on his face, he comments that even when Bigby shows up, things end up even more f*cked up than they started, he then turns and regards the Woodsman as not being dead as he grabs Bigby and pulls him off the crushed car. He pins him against a bus stop to try chocking Bigby to death, saying he knows the beast is in there, as Bigby loses air his eyes turn yellow and teeth start to protrude right as the girl from earlier cops the ax into the Woodsman's head, causing him to fall to the ground. Bigby thanks the girl for her help as she searches the Woodsman, only to come up with a few lose coins. Cursing she throws them on the ground, Bigby asks whats wrong, she replies by saying that he owed her money, a hundred dollars. After pulling the ax out of the Woodsman's head, the player can choose to give her some money or to say he wish he could help. He then turns around to discover the Woodsman and his ax are gone, he sets out to catch him as the girl lays her hand on him and says not to make a big deal out, he asks her if shes sure and she nods, he then proceeds to question her about what happened. After multiple attempts at getting her name, she continues to say "these lips are sealed", Bigby drops the matter as she makes her leave after saying she'll meet him at his apartment after he asks her to come down to his office to talk about what happened. As she is leaving she whispers "your not as bad as everyone thinks you are" giving him a light kiss on the cheek and walking away. Bigby goes back to his
Bigby lighting the mysterious girl's cigarette
apartment and gets a little sleep before being roused by a knocking at his door. He rises, walks to the door, straightens his tie, and opens the door to find Snow White with a scared look on her face. He asks her what is wrong as she paces quickly through the hallway to the elevator and into the small courtyard outside the main entrance. He finds a sheriffs coat with a lump under it, he lifts the coat to discover a fable's head. Now for obvious reasons I'm not going to spoil the rest of the episode other than to say it is up to Bigby to find the killer and stop him before he strikes again, which is what Episode 1 is about and presumably the rest of the series in which Bigby is determined to find the killer at all costs. It is up to you if he will be reasonable, kind, and caring for the fables that fear him because of his past or will you be the monster of the storybooks and be the fearful beast you are depicted as. That decision is up to you. Also bear in mind the story of the game is based on how I played through it, the experience can differ for everyone, the game is tailored by how you play and the choices you make. It is an awesome game that I would recommend to any person, and shows great promise in future episodes. I give it a 9.8 out of 10. I hope you enjoyed and I will see you all next week. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, today we are going to review one of my favorite zombie games ever: The Walking Dead. I am not talking about Walking Dead: Survival Instincts, which if you look, I did a angry review on that game last year. During that time period I felt like blowing off steam, but in general that game really suck. So don't buy that game, buy this game, it is a million times better, literally. Though I could go talking crap about Survival Instincts, but were here talk about a good game. Developed and published by Telltale Games, the Walking Dead is game composed of five episodes that where released between April 24 and December 11 of 2012. The game is a third-person five part episodic graphic adventure, meaning displayed as one huge cinematic game. I know it sounds dull, but it is actually really fun, but tread carefully, just about anything and everything you do will affect the story. There is a warning before each episode begins saying the game is tailored by the decisions you make throughout the game, kind in mind I mean everything, from decisions to kill someone to giving a little boy a candy bar.
So anyway the game revolves around the protagonist of season one, Lee Everett, an ex-convict as seen on the cover. The game begins with Lee being driven out of Atlanta, Georgia in a police car to prison. The police officer say he knows you didn't do it (to what crime you committed is vague at the time), and you engage in conversation with the officer. As you are talking to him you notice police helicopters and SWAT cars passing you going in and cluttered radio chatter on the car's radio. You get to the point in the discussion where he turns around for a moment to tell you something when he hits a walker and the car crashes through the road barrier into the forest below. Lee slowly wakes up half conscious hearing screams from the officer and gun shots being fired, Lee then blacks out again only to awake to find his leg which is badly injured and the police officer dead or unconscious outside the flipped car. This is the first time you get to use interactive system of the game which allows you to look around, observe or interact with objects, letting you break thing, open door, pick up objects and so forth. So Lee looks around until he see the cracked window which he proceeds to break the glass and exits the car. Stumbling onto the ground, feeling intense pain in his leg, which has been badly cut open, Lee rights himself up and limps towards the officer. Once over him you once again ask the officer if he is all right before taking the keys from him to unlock his cuffs. As he finishes taking them off, the officer appears to stir before he lunges at Lee, making him fall back. Lee crawls backward until he against the half flipped car, he cries out "what are you" as the officer, who is now a zombie, crawls towards Lee grunting and his leg apparently broken. Lee looks around frantically, spotting the officer shotgun next to him, he grabs it and it's empty. Seeing a shotshell next to him, he quickly grabs it, loads it into the action, and pumps the shell into the gun. Lee says "don't make me do this" and then shoots the officer, killing it. You see a little girl standing on the hill and yell to her to get help.
A
screenshot showing dialog choices. At certain points in the game's
conversation
trees, the player will have a limited amount of time to respond,
shown
at the bottom of this screen. If they don't respond in time,
the
game will default to the "no statement" Source: Wikipedia
Then walkers begin to emerge from the forest, attracted by the noise of the gunshot, Lee rights himself up and stumbles through the forest as more walkers appear, Lee then hops a fence into someone's backyard. The walkers bang on the fence but are drawn off by distant gunshots. Lee sits there for a moment before pulling himself up and walks through the house's back door into the wrecked house. Lee plays the voice-mail on a answering machine to find some disturbing messages before hearing a voice on a radio. He looks around in the kitchen drawers before finding a walky-talkie, he speaks to the girl who was on the hill asking her if shes alright, her name is Clementine. You talk to her a little more before being attacked by a walker from behind, Lee forces it off him before he runs out of the kitchen only to slip on a blood puddle in the kitchen and knock his head good on the counter. Lee backs up into the sliding glass door kicking back the walker where Clementine hands Lee a hammer that he uses to kill it. After asking Clementine a few questions, Lee decides he will take care of her until her parents return, by the messages Lee heard, he knows there not coming back and can't just leave her. They walk through a small gate onto a road where two guys are pushing a car, trying to get unlodged from the rest of the cars on the road. Lee calls to them and after some dialogue, helps them move the car that's blocking their car's path out of town. They finish moving the car just as walkers are closing in.
With this Lee and Clementine embark on a journey that will change both their lives. Throughout the story you will meet character from the TV series like Hershel and Glen. You encounter a lot of situations both good and bad, but as Lee tries to hold the group together, things only get worse. I think my favorite take on this game is that it shows the dark side of a zombie apocalypse, that it's not just bullets and America moments, that it is dangerous and heartbreaking. The game shows the dark side of human nature, but shows the strength of a group of survivors banning together during undefined times of hardships. This is a great game any gamer should have, 10 of 10. I hope you have enjoyed this review and I will see you all next week. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday. I'm back this week with another game, once again focusing on the shoot 'em up concept with a little twist. The game with this twist is called Dark Sector, a game that allows you to be enhanced by a awesome virus that gives you super powers. So, yeah, sounds pretty awesome, and if that doesn't sound awesome to you, you are a sad individual my friend. Now then, on to the game. Released on March 25, 2008 in North America, April 4th in Europe and October 9th in Australia where it was actually banned for graphic violence. Can't imagine why they'd do that, sure you cut off a few guy's heads, but it's still a fun game. Developed by Digital Extremes and published by D3 Publisher for consoles, Aspyr for computers, Dark Sector received mixed positive reviews upon its release. Introducing a mix of what fans said was a combination of Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War, much to their enjoyment and mine. So lets get down to the basis of the game and some of the features that make it unique. The trademark and primary weapon of the game is the three pronged "Glaive", a metallic weapon in Hayden can produce at will. He can then can throw it long distances, guide it, and melee it at enemies. The Glaive can also absorb energy from things such as electricity, fire, and ice. The virus Hayden contracts give him a metallic arm, which bonds to any metal object, only allowing Hayden to hold two handed weapons for a limited time, making pistols his primary weapons, the virus also makes him immune to pain. The story takes place in Lasria, opening with Hayden infiltrating a gulag in hopes of finding Robert Mezner, the man responsible for infecting Lasria with the Technocyte Virus. After eliminating all the resistance members within the complex, planting C4 everywhere, and destroying a helicopter, Hayden encounters a creature known as Nemisis, a indestructible metallic humanoid figure. After firing a rocket at Nemisis, it redirects it back Hayden, there is an explosion and Hayden is knocked unconscious. He awakes to find none other than Mezner looking over him next to Nemisis. Then as Hayden attempts to make a grab for his gun, he is stabbed by Nemisis in his right shoulder, infecting him with the Technocyte virus.
Hayden fighting Lasrian soldiers
After a quick boring lecture to Hayden from Mezner about he is 'broken' and was questing why the agency would still have any use for him, Hayden detonates the C4 he planted earlier, making an escape. He reaches a beach, by now his arm has been transformed by the virus, where he superiors contact him, telling him to move to one of their sleeper agents in the country Yargo Mensik. Shortly after the conversation Hayden encounter enemy soldiers, in the events that transpire Hayden's arm produces the Glaive which he uses to kill the enemy soldiers. I don't want to spoil the plot but only set the story, so all most find out for yourselves. This isn't the best game for gameplay, but is much worth it for the plot. So I would probably give this game a 6.2 of 10, and suggest you rent it or something. I hope you have all enjoyed this review and I will see you next weekend. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Dark Sector Official Trailer, explains the setting
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday. I'm back this week with another FPS this week that lives up to its predecessor, and maybe even surpasses it; Metro: Last Light. Metro: Last Light is a first-person shooter developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver, the sequel to its acclaimed predecessor, Metro 2033, which takes place in post-apocalyptic Russia 20 years after a nuclear war ravaged the Earth. This event forced the survivors to retreat into Moscow's metro system to survive, animals mutated into dangerous creations that hunt from the skies, the land, and the waters. In the current time of the Metro series, it is impossible to even step above the surface without a gas mask that requires filters, a item you will always be searching for throughout the game. The watch on Artyom's left arm tells him how long until his filter runs out, in which he must then change it, so remember, always keep an eye out for filters. The people left above mutated from the radiation into what were known "The Dark Ones". In Metro 2033, Artyom (the player) is told that the Dark Ones are the greatest threat humanity has ever faced due to there telepathic and super-natural abilities, allowing them to enter the mind of any creature, strong or not, and react havoc if they chose to. They also are extremely agile, fast, and have the ability to render themselves invisible. This displays a common concept shown throughout history: we are afraid of what we don't understand, this is shown by the people of the Metro towards the Dark Ones. The overall plot is that you are Artyom, a Ranger for the Order, one of many factions spread throughout the Metro. These factions include the Red Line; a re-birthed version of the Soviet Union, the Nazis; which are the re-birthed soldiers of the Nazis, The Order; a organization which was created to maintain order within the Metro, which you belong to, and many others who are not so important. Instead of banning together to try to savage what remains of humanity, these factions are locked in a sort of pre Civil War rivalry. Under the guild of a Ranger named Hunter you are instructed to proceed through the Metro and find the solution to this problem involving the Dark Ones.
A young Artyom being saved by a Dark One from mutants
At the end of Metro 2033, you approach your long awaited D-6; a pre-apocalyptic shelter that contains the last weapons of mass destruction in Russia: enough missiles to level the country. After fighting his way through the Metro up to the surface through Soviets, bandits, and mutants alike Artyom approaches D-6, however just before he reaches the facility he is contacted by the Dark Ones through hallucinations of a sort. Artyom enters the facility, uses the missiles to target the Dark Ones home, essentially destroying the Dark Ones. This brings us to the events of Metro: Last Light, it has been one year since the destruction of the Dark Ones and the Order now inhabits D-6, which turns out has enough supplies to supply them all for decades. The situation between the factions of the Metro has grown worse, and the discovery of D-6 has not helped. Even though the Order tried to keep D-6 a secret, word of the safe haven quickly got out, and rumors have spread that the other factions plan to take D-6 from the Rangers (The Order). Artyom is awakened with urgent news from Coronal Miller, the leader of the Rangers, that a Dark One has been spotted near their old home. You are instructed to gear up and head out to find this Dark One. Oh, also, turns out when the Dark Ones flooded Artyom's mind with hallucinations, they were trying to establish with humanity that they only wanted peace. So, pardon my language, but Artyom f*cked up pretty bad on that matter. Now that we have the set the scene for the world we're about to step into, I will talk about some of the new aspects the game has to offer. Probably the biggest change in the game is the improved stealth system, allowing you to stray from the standard path a FPS into a darker and more entertaining perspective. Being a gamer as I am, I enjoy the stealth aspect of Metro: Last Light.
A close up of the protagonist, Artyom
Though you have to play Metro 2033 to appreciate the improved stealth aspect, a example of this is that you used to be spotted very easy and silent take-downs were rare. However the stealth aspect also contains new features, such as sneaking past guards to reach power breakers and turn off the lights for a section of a area. This allows Artyom to sneak past enemies with more ease, silenced weapons, throwing knifes, and take-downs add to the fun of stealth. In some environments you can walk under the floors in the waterways to avoid detection. That was basically the only big change in the game, other then a updated HUD, better graphics, and a few other things. I would recommend this game to any FPS survival horror fans and all gamers in general, 9/10 on my scale. I hope you all have enjoyed this review and I will be back next Wednesday. Until then, game on. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Recommended to watch in full screen for full awesomeness
North American Box Art, featuring the series protagonist Gordon Freeman
Hello everyone, glad to be back from a very long and fulfilling summer to write about video games. Now then a new service announcement, I will only be posting one blog a week on Wednesday instead of on Tuesday and Thursday. So now that I have set down the standards for this year, I can get down to business. Today I will be reviewing a game so awesome, it received Game Of The Decade award. That game is Half Life 2. Developed and published by the Valve Corporation, Half Life 2 was released in November 16, 2004, receiving positive reviews from both fans and critics alike. A sequel to Half Life, Half Life 2 was highly anticipated after the release of the first game. Though Half Life was a huge success before the release of the second game, it was HL2 that really threw the series into the the category of golden games that would be played for generations. Upon its release it was praised for the number of new features that were added in, along with new weapons, the occasional vehicle, the ability to command and control a squad of soldiers in combat, and the biggest thing; the introduction of the Source Engine. Basically the birth place of most modern Valve games, the same engine is used in countless titles such as Team Fortress 2, Portal 1 & 2, Alien Swarm, Dota 2, Counter Strike: Source, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and countless other titles. Another popular indie title that became a large success using the Source Engine was Garry's Mod, a game in which the player the player has the ability to manipulate rag dolls, create an environment, and do just about everything. But enough about about all those other games, now we will talk about Half Life 2. The genre is a single-player FPS that takes place 20 years after the first game, located somewhere in near Europe (perhaps Russia as several old Russian bill boards found around the countryside suggest). Also the iconic trade mark of the returns, the grey and red crowbar continues to reek havoc on your foes and planks alike. You are Gordon Freeman, the silent protagonist of the series. The game begins with Gordon mysteriously appearing on a train bound for City 17, as you take your little train you are spoken to by the mysterious G-Man, who has been watching Freeman since the start of the first game. At the end of the first game, after Gordon is transported to the alien world of Xen and destroys a powerful space entity that was holding open a portal to Earth, allowing the hostile aliens into Black Mesa (the facility where Gordon worked until the "resonance cascade" or what is referred to as "The Black Mesa Incident".) After Freeman kills the creature he is teleported to safety in the G-Man, the man who had been shadowing Gordon throughout Black Mesa. At the end of the game the G-Man offers Freeman a opportunity to work with him, Gordon can say yes or no, but in the case of moving on to the sequel, he presumably said yes, because if you say no, you get eaten by aliens. Happy ending, no?
G-Man as he appears in Half Life(left) and as he appears in Half Life 2(right)
So, Gordon's on a train, and after the somewhat disturbing speech given by the G-Man, he gets off the train into a station. Quick fill-in on the current state of the planet: the Earth was conquered sometime ago by a alien race known as "The Combine" during a event called The Seventeen Hour War, in which the human race as we know was conquered by the Combine. So, yeah, pretty sad, but we didn't totally get our ass's handed to us, with the help of Dr. Wallace Breen, former Black Mesa administer, Breen negotiated the surrender of humanity. For his efforts and cooperation Breen was rewarded by the Combine with power, and seated as representative and Administer to supervise the survivors of humanity. Unable to reproduce due to a Combine suppression field, humanity has matured, meaning no kids. The Combine have also implemented a brutal police state of Civil Protection officers in effort to maintain order over humanity. Now then, after arriving at the station and evading Combine forces, Freeman joins Lambda resistance members including Barney Calhoun, a former Black Mesa security guard now working undercover as a Combine CP officer, and Alyx Vance, the daughter of one of Gordon's former colleagues, Dr. Eli Vance. From here Freeman will travel across the remnants of the old world, fight the Combine, and free humanity. I don't want to give away all the details, so I'll leave the story at that. As I mentioned earlier, vehicles were a popular introduction because nothings more fun than driving around in a air-boat with gattling-gun shooting down choppers. I would honestly give this game a 10/10, that how good it is. If you would like to purchase it, you can find it on the steam store for $10.00 on Steam Store. Hope you all have enjoyed my back-to-blog post and I will be back next Wednesday. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone and happy Friday. As most of you know, this is my last blog for this summer, I but I may consider throwing in a post now and then. But until the end of this post comes to a end, I will act in a usual manner. Now, down to business. Today I'm going to review a game that generated millions of dollars and left millions of fans satisfied and knowing every penny was worth it. That game is Borderlands 2. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games, Borderlands 2 follows a similar plot of the first game, you are a vault hunter who is seeking the vault. The following video explains the introduction to the game.
So that's how the game starts, you are a survivor of the train wreck and depending what mode you're on you'll start alone and meet up with computer controlled players along the way. However if you start in co-op, the feature the game is praised for, than you will start out with someone else, up to four players. As the video highlights you can be one of four unique characters, each with their own special ability. My favorite character to play as is Zero, as Zero you have the ability to project a hologram of yourself while turning invisible and as you reappear the first shot or stab you make will be critical, guaranteeing a one hit kill for most enemies, handy when fighting bosses and you health is low. Next is the Gunzerker, who can dual wield to rifles for devastating firepower, which in case you didn't know is pretty f*cking awesome, totally reminds me of the Terminator, shotgun in one hand, rifle in the other, or two rifles and two shotguns. He also has alot of health. After him comes the Commando, who is really good at defending objectives with his deployable sentries that offer quick firepower and are very useful for most situations. Last, but not least is the Siren, who possesses the ability to grab enemy via levitation and blow them up, so yeah, awesome. Another aspect the game was praised for was the vast assortment of weapons of grenades. Some gun even have special abilities like catching the enemy on fire, electrocuting them, using explosive bullets, and even bullets that apply a subsistence called rust that makes them more vulnerable to damage. The game also features a massive landscape over the planet of Pandora, in which the player can roam freely and select their choice of objectives. Throughout the world depending on the place you will find money, weapons, and ammo. The game's AI reminds me of the Director for the Left 4 Dead series, it randomly places things in the world, and it never there the second time you play the level or it's something different. But you can only carry so many items, and when your backpack gets full you will have to drop stuff. If a ammo, health, or gun box happens to be near by, you can sell unwanted items to the Russian guy that supports capitalism. While out in large plain areas you can access virtual vehicles that you can customize to your own extent and then use to get around faster. Throughout the game it also helps that you have this AI talking to you, advising you, and hacking into things for you, as for how she got there, I have no idea. Well thats about everything you need to know about it. Once again, totally worth buying, I recently bought the season pass for, allowing me to get all the DLCs for the game forever. So there you have it, my last post of the summer. I was thinking about doing Assassin's Creed III, but realized I hadn't reviewed Assassin's Creed: Revelations yet. I'd like to thank all of you for reading this blog, but don't worry, I'll will be back after Summer. So until then game, have fun, go outside, play with your dog, all that good stuff. See you starside, this has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday, hope you're doing well. Sorry about no post last Friday, never trust scheduled update made by Blogger. Today were going to review a 8-bit game that has received positive energy from critics, give a 8.0 and was chosen as editors choice award by IGN. The game was featured on a variety of platforms including Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. The game is based off the movie that was based off the comics, so yeah. That game is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, the game was a huge hit in many different countries. Honestly one of my favorite 8-bit games it is totally worth the low amount of Microsoft points you pay for it, (Hint: Don't buy this game for PlayStation). In the game you can play as one of four characters featured in the game, though the plot of fighting through bikers, punks, band players, zombies, and super vegans is not changed. The four characters are Scott Pilgrim, the main protagonist (if you have any common sense, you will play as this guy, cause he's awesome), Ramona Flowers, the girl Scott's in love with (also a bad ass), Kim Pine, Scott's ex-girlfriend and drummer of his band, Sex Bob-omb, and Steven Stills "The Talent", the vocalist of the band. Along with these characters are three other characters, one unlocked through a achievement, the other two bought through DLC content on the Xbox Live Market Place. Nega- Scott, Scott's evil counter-part, is unlocked, while Knives Chau, the 17-year old Scott is dating before Ramona, and Wallace Wells, Scott's gay room mate. So throughout the game you run, jump, smash, throw, and kill enemies throughout various levels from the movie. The following entry in Italics was taken from Wikipedia to explain the plot of the movie, for those of you who are patient enough to read and understand whats going on.
The Story:
In Toronto, Scott Pilgrim, the bass guitarist for the band "Sex Bob-omb", begins dating high schooler Knives Chau, much to the disapproval of his friends. Scott meets an American girl, Ramona Flowers, who has been appearing in his dreams, and becomes obsessed with her, losing interest in Knives. While playing in a battle of the bands sponsored by one "G-Man Graves" for a record deal, Scott is attacked by Matthew Patel, who introduces himself as the first of Ramona's "evil exes". Scott defeats Patel and learns that, in order for them to date, he must defeat all seven of her evil exes.
Scott breaks up with Knives, who blames Ramona for taking Scott from her and begins trying to win him back. Scott battles Ramona's second evil ex, popular actor and skateboarder Lucas Lee, whom he defeats by tricking him into performing a dangerous skateboard grind that causes him to combust. Scott later encounters the third evil ex, Todd Ingram, who is dating Scott's ex-girlfriend, Natalie "Envy" Adams. Todd initially overpowers Scott using his psychic vegan abilities, but is stripped of his powers by the Vegan Police after Scott tricks him into drinking coffee with half and half cream, allowing Scott to defeat him.
Scott begins to grow upset with Ramona over her dating history by the defeat of the fourth ex, Roxy Richter. During the second round of the battle of the bands, Sex Bob-omb faces off against the fifth and sixth evil exes, twin Katayanagi brothers Kyle and Ken, earning Scott an extra life upon their defeat. During the battle, Scott sees Ramona together with her seventh evil ex, Gideon, who turns out to be G-Man Graves. The members of Sex Bob-omb accept Gideon's record deal, except for Scott, who leaves the band.
Upon returning home, Scott receives a phone call invitation from Gideon to his newly opened Chaos Theater where Sex Bob-omb is playing, claiming there to be "no hard feelings". Scott arrives and challenges Gideon to a fight, professing his love for Ramona and gaining a sword called the "Power of Love", which Gideon easily destroys. Knives then crashes the scene to fight Ramona over Scott. Scott goes to break up the girls' fight, only to accidentally reveal that he cheated on them with each other before he is killed by Gideon.
Ramona visits Scott in Limbo and apologizes for getting him involved in her affairs, revealing that Gideon had planted a mind control device in the back of her head. Scott realizes he still has an extra life and uses it to return to life at the moment in time when Gideon first called him. Scott reenters the Chaos Theater where he makes peace with his friends and challenges Gideon again, stating he is fighting for himself and gaining the much stronger "Power of Self-Respect" sword with which he strikes down Gideon. He then apologizes to Ramona and Knives for cheating on them, but Gideon interferes and knocks down Ramona, leading Scott and Knives to team up and defeat him. Free from Gideon's control, Ramona prepares to leave, but Knives accepts that her relationship with Scott is over and encourages him to follow Ramona. He does, and the two start their relationship anew.
So there you have it, you must defeat Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to date her. While doing this you must also fight your way through a assortment of other enemies until you reach the boss. The combat system is fairly simple and as you move up in level you will unlock more combos to cause more damage and you will have more health. That's basically everything you need to know about the game. Once again, totally worth the little money it costs. And now, a announcement. So this Friday will be my last blog for the rest of Summer, so I'm trying to decide what game to go out with. This has been awesome and fun to do, I will miss it and wish I could keep doing it, but with the time I'll be working this summer will make it hard to have any free time. But I'm not done yet, I'll save the "Thank You" speech for this last blog. Until then, this has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
E3 Launch Trailer
Official Movie Trailer, watch the movie, its awesome.
Hello everyone and happy Wednesday. Today were doing to review one of the less serious games made this year: Surgeon Simulator 2013. Developed by Bossa Studios and published by Steam, S.S. was originally a game made in 48 hours by four sleep deprived game developers. So they decided to see what they could do in 48 days and this was the result: Surgeon Simulator 2013. As the title of the game suggests, you are a surgeon preforming surgery. There are a few different modes that have been introduced into the game since the first one. Although the original objective of the game is still present, which is to preform open heart surgery on a patient without killing him, however most of the players of the game simply make a mess of things breaking the patients rib cage, dropping bone saws in his organs, and injecting yourself with drugs with drugs meant for sedating the patient. So overall most the fan base doesn't play the game seriously. Back on subject, some of the new modes include brain surgery in which you have to remove the brain while fixing the non functional part of the brain, I also think you can preform a lobotomy depending on the objective. The most popular and difficult new mode is ambulance mode, where you have to preform surgery in the back of a moving, bumpy ambulance. This mode requires careful persition or you will kill your patient and scatter all your equipment over the floor of the vehicle. But for the most part the developers knew that most people would just mess around and find funny ways to kill the patient. That's basically what you do in the game and everything about it. Surgeon Simulator 2013 is available on the Steam store for $9.99 and the hours of laughs you'll get out of the game is worth it. That's all folks, thanks for 50 posts. This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.
