BioShock Review

Developer: 2k Games
Publisher: 2k Games



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Intro:

A new FPS has shown up with promises of great gameplay and great story without needed muitplayer to make it successful (unlike halo :P )

We will see how true to those claims the game really is...

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Notable Awards:

• 2007 PC Game of the Year
• 2007 Xbox 360 Game of the Year
• 2007 FPS Game of the Year
• 2007 Overall Game of the Year

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Genre:

A regular First Person Shooter, nothing out of the ordinary here.

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Players:

The game is a 1 player only.

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Overview:

The game begins with you in an airplane in the late 1950's when it suddenly crashes and our the only survivor or so your lead to believe ...

You then come across this big tower in the middle of no where in the ocean, you enter and soon take a sub down to the city of Rapture...

You soon get ambushed and eventually found out it was a bad idea to come down here. The first plasmid is introduced (think of it as magic in a RPG) after your encounter with a Big Daddy, even though you dont actually fight it, its still a pretty sight to take and dont want to mess with.

And soon your tangled up in this rescue operation for atlas and...

Well im not gonna spoil the story for you,
you will just have to play and find out,
its such a great story

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Gameplay:

Game is typical among all FPS except for the plasmid system, which allows you to strike enemies with electricity, fire, and a few other elements.

The way you combine these powers with your surroundings is up to you.
For example you could shock an enemy in the water for extra damage, and it will shock all other enemies in the water also.
You could light a propane tank on fire then use telikenieses to throw it at your enemies for extra damage , ect...
its all up to you.

You will also need powers to melt ice, or freeze things to advance in the game.

The weapons are nice with upgrades and all the works and make you fell invincible at times.

Another pretty cool thing was the hacking minigame which is a remade version of the PC classic PIPE:


Multiplayer would have been good in this game, whats better then shotting your friends and complete strangers with plasmids?
But its still very good without it as you can see from the awards.


There was no lag or anything in the game that I experience, everything ran smoothly

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Graphics:

The graphics on this game are very well done.
From the glossy look to the water, everything looks very nice compared to other FPS's.


Some Pics to show its "awesomenesses"






















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Audio / Sfx:

The game contains a rich classical score and well as may songs popular from that time era that sometime play in the background.

Such songs as:
Papa Loves Mambo
Waltz of the Flower
How Much is that Doggy in the Window
Oh Danny Boy
and a few other as well...

Also there whole classical score is free to download from their site:
http://downloads.2kgames.com/bioshoc...hock_Score.zip

Over all its very well done and pulls it off with the game well.


The voice acting it also extremely up to par.
They have a real emphasis to them from the Irish talking Atlas to the little sisters and as well as the Big Daddy sounds are pretty creepy.

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Replay Value:

The game doesnt exactly have a replay value to it.
After you finished, you will want to put it away until you fell like play it again a couple of month later, like me.

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Conclusion:

This game is really something to look at on how new games coming out these days instead of the usual rubbish we get today should be. This game is extremely good and is recommended to anybody who has a 360 or even PC (and soon PS3 also )

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Pros:

• Excellent story
• Voice Acting
• Weapons and upgrades
• Many plasmids to choose from
• Graphics
• Musical score

Cons:

• No Multiplayer

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Final Score:

I was hoping for something like God of War or ninja Gaiden when I rented Viking. I was hell-a-off....

Viking: Battle for Asgard
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Creative Assembly
Players: 1
Genre: Action Adventure

You are Skarin, a Viking warrior mortally wounded in battle. On the edge of death, you are visited by Freya, a Norse goddess, who summons you to become her champion. You must defeat the goddess Hel and her undead army before they take over all of the land. To do this you must recruit an army, and use it to liberate the land.

Viking mythology was never this boring
The game starts off with a cutscene where you jump straight into the plot. Thats basically it. There is no lead up whatsoever to the general plot, making for an extremely annoying beginning of the game. The story at best is rather shallow, as it never really goes beyond anything except for the classic hero vs. villain mentality that pervaded many a 1970's movie. Thats not unnecessarily a bad thing, though, and could easily be overlooked. However, when you own character is the most static in the game, it becomes amazingly irritating to see no emotion or life from your character whatsoever. At the beginning, you learn of your father's death in the battle that almost claimed yours as well. What does your character say or do to express loss for his father? Nothing. Not a single thing except that you have a new mission. Character development in this game is absolutely gone, and the characters are the most static I've seen in a long time. The game is also uber violent, which may be the single redeeming quality here. I've never really cared much for violence, but when there is so little else to hold this games story and atmosphere up, you have to aim low. Blood and guts will follow you everywhere. This goes beyond God of War and Conan, as you do finishers that could only be replicated in games like Ninja Gaiden 2. However, that barely replaces the messy story and the lost everything else about the presentation. Menus tend to be confusing, and even the achievements are weird (wanna know how I got a gamerscore ending in a 2? This game.)

Bloody mediocre
Onto graphics. To its credit, Viking does sport some nice looking character models, and the magic effects look fine and nice. Environments need lots of work though. Enemies look great, especially when your cutting them to shreds. The blood flying every which way and the entrails (starting to get a little queasy here)splat in full texture. Unfortunately, you'll be seeing the same enemies very, very often. Back to environments for a minute anyway. The main lands and grassy plains that you fight on a plain, boring, and uneventful. Castles and forts actually look interesting, though, but thats only from the distance. Up close they get bland and repetitive, showing good artistic direction, but terrible execution. The ocean water looks like waves of white lines, and caverns all look exactly the same. To clean up the point, none of this necessarily looks bad, it just doesn't look good. Mediocrity rules this games graphical direction in almost every which way you can think of.


It doesn't look bad. It just doesn't look good.

Have I gone deaf? No wait, This game is just dead.

Sound. As far as music goes, there is absolutely nothing. There is basically no music whatsoever. The only music there ever is only happens during fights, so your mind basically blocks it out. Even then there is nothing to hear. Sound effects aren't too shabby though. The fierce attacks of enemies and the slashes that your sword makes into their lower sternums are glorious. Unfortunately, these sound effects repeat themselves over and over and over constantly, and once you've heard some of the sound effects, you've hears all of the sound effects. Voice acting is terrible. Mostly the acting consists of fake British and Norse accents (whats a norse accent sound like, anyway?) spewed to a very badly written script. Some of the Viking warriors have some decent lines to say though. Don't must your TV when playing this, but to be honest there isn't much to hear.

Hack-and-slash is fun, but repetitive
For those of you willing to forgo storyline and sound, and deal with mediocre graphics, you've still got some interesting gameplay going for you. You may think differently when you first begin, though, as your best attacks include mashing the A button over and over (even more then dynasty warriors). If your patient you'll get a few more combos, and eventually some pretty sweet magic attacks. Gathering your Viking warriors is pretty fun for a good while. Getting gold and doing quests extend the fun you have a good deal. Did I mention, the Vikings you release join your army? They do. These utterly massive armies lead to some really awesome epic scale battles in the game, as you and 1000 Vikings battle thousands of Undead enemies (Really think of this--the game can take thousands of enemies and allies on screen at once. Thats one da** good engine!) The epic battles get even better when you get the ability to summon dragons, who tear the battlefield into pieces (not literally) and rip apart undead like a lawnmower in Dead Rising. Like always though, Newton's law of physics comes into play here, and for every good gameplay action theres a bad one. This time, Newton's a little off--there are bad parts to the gameplay, but the good outweighs the bad by a margin. While combat and battling is fun, after a few hours it will get extremely repetitive, and the very thin level of stealth featured in the game is just annoying. After killing the same enemy type thousands of times, it starts to decline significantly. Also, later in the game when your outnumbered 5 to 1 and your Viking teamates aren't doing too well, things start to get frustrating. Enemies block and counter all you attacks, and magic gets useless. Still, for the most part Viking has some good hack-and-slash fun to be had, if very shallow fun to be had.


Slash.

Asgard is a one-trip ticket
Once your done, your done for good. You can easily do most every task the first play through, and afterwards there is literally nothing to do. exploring the island doesn't work because everything is the same, fighting doesn't work because you've done it so much, and powering up doesn't work because most extra combos never do anything at all. Except for the main storyline which is a good 12-15 hours long, replay Value isn't there.

Lets get to it then! (Ya got blood onma knife....)

Presentation: 1.5/5
Confusing menus, bad story, and lack of character development whatsoever deserves to go to whatever the Norse inferno is.

Sound: 2/5
While it has decent sound effects, voice acting is horrific and music isn't there.

Graphics: 3/5
They aren't bad, but there aren't good. Despite decent character models, this game screams mediocrity.

Gameplay: 3/5
Fighting is great fun, but for only so long. Soon repetition sets in, and it becomes a chore to finish the game.

Replay Value: 2/5
Beyond one play through, there is no replay value.

Overall: 2.5/5

This game screams mediocrity. While gameplay and combat is interesting, everything else just either falls or isn't interesting in the least. Creative Assembly had an interesting idea, but it just didn't work out quite right.

Bored. Review.

Frontlines: Fuel of War
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Kaos Studios
Players: 1-50 (good lord)
Genre: Tactical FPS

Frontlines: Fuel of War bases around the idea of a third World War that is caused by a lack of oil and gasoline around the world. (sound familiar?) 2 major factions and four countries are included in this war: U.S. and Britain vs. China and Russia, the Western Coalition and the Red Star Alliance respectively. You are in the shoes of a soldier who, like many others, is caught in this war and speculates on all areas of the war, including the idea that the entire war is based on a conspiracy theory. Who knows...

Oil the Glorious
The entire story for this game is base on the idea that soon (in 2008) the world will erupt into a full scale war over the few remaining deposits of oil left on earth. The best part about this story is the possibility that this could happen. The idea of (in todays world) people fighting over oil in a global war isn't totally unforeseeable. Anyway, the story centers on oil, and the two factions (the RSA and WC) are warring over this. Overall, the story is basically another war story, except slightly futuristic and with a small amount of character development. (most of your teamates die fairly quickly) Honestly, there isn't that much to story. Menus work fine, but loading times are sometimes a little long. Multiplayer is glorious. 50 player online matches in massive arena based warfare. The connections for online? So far so good, I haven't ever noticed any connection errors, even in massive battles. A little bit of lag though when the going gets insanely large. Respawning is a pain in the a**.....



All of them soldiers, all of them lifeless


War doesn't look all too bad...
Frontlines certainly does look good sometimes. Explosions are gloriously, well, explosive, and they work nice. The main problem with this game graphically is that in the massive outside arenas seem to actually have no textures on them until you get very close up. In other words, the textures pop up AFTER you get close, which diminishes the spectacular view of massive war greatly. Pop in for buildings and models happen, but the game cleverly disguises this as saying the its due to the fog and the players (apparent) bad eyesight. Character models, while not exactly Call of Duty 4, work fine, but look very bland close up. Rainbow Six vegas this ain't. Bullet effects and fire seem both primitive and well done at the same time. (don't ask how, just watch it.)



Frontlines does have its moments, but for the most part it falls flat


Sorry sir, lip sync is not a-go.
Sound. Dialog among the characters is well done, if a bit choppy in campaign mode. A good bit of the dialog focuses on the characters thoughts about the war and the missions they are doing. but to be honest, none of it is memorable, and lip sync could have been much better. Sound effects are well presented, from bullet firing to explosions. The whir of a sentry coming in for a kill is sometimes a bit annoying, as you hear them as being a good for meters away, then boom. Your suddenly dead. You can't so much trust you ears when it comes to remote controlled vehicles in the game. I don't even remember whether or not there was music in the game (which should tell you something about the soundtrack.)


50 player online battles? GOOD ****!
While story mode is rather unimpressive, multiplayer makes up for it rather well. First off the bat you'll notice the MASSIVE battles of 50 players in equally massive battlefields. Theres so much strategy behind team work in this game that people don't even see. For instance, a Special Ops guy could load your vehicle up with C4 to have you bail out of the vehicle right as it collides into another tank and tell the guy to detonate his C4. Or for a less strategic note, get two of your friends into a well-known hiding spot as close combatants, and basically herd your enemies into the area where your friends do the rest. Now speaking of vehicles. The controls for the vehicles are bad, even worse then GTA IV. other then that, vehicles are also insanely overpowered. If your enemy is in a tank, it doesn't matter if you can get a rocket off on his tank. At best it'll only take a third of his health down and by that time you'll be blown to Jupiter. Same goes for all vehicles. The class system works. The only thing is that you'll almost never see ANYONE playing as close combat, i.e. the shotgun class. People who play as the sniper class are doomed too. The Sniper takes at least 2 HEADSHOTS to kill someone, where as the assault rifle (the machine gun class) has the same accuracy as the sniper rifle with the same damage. Still, all these work in the hands of decent players. Multiplayer is the best part of the game, easily.

1 game mode? Honestly?
As far as replay value goes, it all depends on you love for the multiplayer. As you won't play through single player twice, will the 6-10 maps hold you with only a single online mode? Well, that all depends on you, and Frontlines mode really isn't to be messed with.

Lets get to it then! (Watch above your head!)

Presentation: 3.5/5
Intelligent story combined with meh execution equals meh-ness. Connection is great and menus are fine.

Graphics: 4/5
Texture pop up aside, this game can look pretty stunning at times. Explosive times especially.

Sound: 3/5
Sound and gunfires works, voices are alright, but none of it is really spectacular at all.

Gameplay: 4/5
While singleplayer is alright, multiplayer takes a crown for the thing in this game most worthy of your time. If you can get into it, it may be hard to get out of.

Replay Value: 3.5/5
Do you like the multiplayer? Then you have good replay Value...

Overall: 3.5/5

Frontlines offers some pretty nice war-based ideas for online multiplayer. pitty the storyline is only so-so, but it reminds me of CoD4 in this way...

I promised it, so here it is, a 'moderately' in depth review of Condemned 2 (yes, I shelled out the big bucks for you, populace! Be grateful!) I actually haven't played this game on the PS3 as the cover art may imply, but from reliable sources (IGN, Gamespot) they are both supposed to be equal is game. Besides, most reviews I've made have 360 cover art, even though they have PS3 counterparts.

Saying fps horror has a new face would be inaccurate-- how about no face at all?

Comdemned 2: Bloodshot
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Monolith Productions
Players: 1-8
Genre: Survival horror FPS

You are Ethan Thomas, once an SCU(special something something forces) investigator. Now, your an alcoholic, and with a real pissy attitude. Your called back to action when your former partner has gone missing. Not only must you find your partner and solve many more murders, but you must battle your own inner demons as well and discover a truth so demented and sick that you will never see it coming...

The truth is both disturbing and awesome...
For my part I haven't really seen many a horror game that has an interesting story. Or many a horror game in general to be honest (Jericho and Doom 3 aside). So I was reluctant to try out Condemned 2, but the demo won me over. Aaaaannyway, Bloodshot's storyline is probably the most compelling reason to keep coming back to this game 'til the very end. Without revealing too much, the storyline actually seems less of a horror storyline and more of a mystery movie. Don't worry, its plenty scary for more reasons, but I'll get to that. The story is told in a way that makes the player consciously or unconsciously (thats right, it ****s up your mind, fool!) try and guess what happens next in the story. The best part is that your more then likely gonna be wrong, which serves to make the storyline much more compelling as you try to figure stuff out ahead of time (only to be wrong). The storyline itself is wacky, but takes itself so seriously it becomes like Ninja Gaiden-- crazy, but serious enough that it makes the player serious. For instance, in the first game (which I haven't actually played) you track down a serial killer nicknamed SKX. In Bloodshot, you go from solving a crime and trying to figure out whats happening to you and the city to, well....lets just say it goes from 1980's time periods to that of a sci-fi movie. None of this takes away too badly from the story, but it does make it a bit harder to truly get into. Still, it all is great and leaves a great amount of room for the third game. Oh, and did I mention, your steadily going insane in Bloodshot? Must have missed that... Now the atmosphere of Bloodshot is near flawless. it knows the perfect times throw psycho bandits at you and the perfect time to build crazy levels of suspense. Like when you explore the SCU building, and lights flicker while you simply see inhuman shadows for instance. Even the house levels will make you turn every single corner twice before you enter a room. The atmosphere in Bloodshot is a marvel of the horror genre, and a much needed improvement over those lame horror games where they rely on surprise as the sole factor in making a game scary. As far as menus go, your character sees the menus on his pocket computer, a bit of a nice change from the standard 'press start to see the bland, sideways menu' of most games. They are easy to read and navigate as well. I've had connection issues in multiplayer, but its more because hardly anyone playing it then anything else.


Ethan Thomas is no longer the shining beacon of joy he was in Condemned 1

Tar, tar, everywhere...
Condemned sure looks great sometimes. The splattered walls, the psychotic villains and especially the tar monsters (see? Sega made a tribute to Scooby-Doo-- that means some people DO still like that show!) who tear themselves out of the tar covered walls. The lighting effects are great at most times, and the flashlight is much needed. However, there are a few rooms and hallways, specifically in the beginning and end which are stupidly dark. These rooms are very rare, but getting attacked by 3 creatures in the dark sure can be annoying(very). The bloody and torn textures of flesh and blood in the game is sickeningly spot-on. The weapons and textures are great, and the splatting of enemies heads against your feet (or bludgeon) splat gloriously bloody. The enemies differ from one another, and few enemies look alike. The faceless Oros are great looking enemies, although getting close enough to study one without being beat up may be a challenge. However, a lot of times they just look kind of messy, but for the most part they look just like psychotics would-- scars and blood stains included. Environments are very well done, most noticeably being the run down state of the city. You truly get the feeling that the city is being turned onto an absolute nightmare, a home for the insane and not much else. The houses are ruined and broken, wood is rotting and cracks underfoot, and the amount of junk just makes you think that these guys aren't just psycho, but have a severe case of OCD. Each room is cluttered with trash, TVs, meth (laundry machines) and other things. The lights in these houses either flicker or don't work at all. Some areas where lights don't even exist (thank goodness for the flashlight) look absolutely haunted. The chairs are stacked on the tables, and the dust and fog makes you know they've been that way probably for 100 years. Other rooms just repeat themselves, however. Like in the winter cabin many of the rooms are absolutely symmetrical. The framerate does drop at occasions of intense fighting, often when many people are all trying to beat on you at once. And when it does, its pretty painful. But for the most part, Condemned 2 looks great. It just has a few issues here and there.

The Sound of fear
Condemned 2 is a horrific opera. And like all operas, they have the cool parts where the guy is sword fighting the villain, and the bad part where Helga the Viking fatass sings her dues. Condemned 2 is a mixed bag. While it has great effects, its music can sometimes be utterly annoying. Let me explain then...the sound effects are top notch for a horror game. Psychotics scream when you smack them in the face, and gunshots pierce the dead silence of Condemn's freaky atmosphere. Electrical pulses from SKX's torture devices and the lights resonate great, like the, well, resonators in the game. Voice acting is finely done. Ethan specifically-- his new voice serves him sell through the game. Dialogue is hit and miss though, but it all works out well with the story and all its creepiness. Music is a different story. the few times that music is in the background, its more then likely gonna annoy the he** outta you. Especially in the conveyor section of the doll factory. The music is haunting and well placed, but that doesn't stop it from being simply awful. Suggestion: turn music volume to zero when you start. All other sounds are great.

The perfect hand to hand system in a horror game? Awesome!
The gameplay in Condemned 2 focuses mainly on hand-to-hand combat like its predecessor. Only this time around, they absolutely nailed the melee system. Monolith took huge care to approach the suggestions of its fans, specifically regarding guarding fist combat. Tons and tons of weapons, including everything from shotguns to foosball sticks, are a major point of enjoyment in the game. Looking at each weapon and uses each one is a fun trait that lesser collectors might not really care for. Each weapon has 4 stats: Power, Reach, condition, and Speed. Power determines the damage a weapon will do, speed is how fast you can swing it, reach is the length at which it reaches, and condition is the, well, condition its in. They do break if you block too often and don't parry enough (which is easy enough to do). As for blocking, they fixed it in Bloodshot perfectly. Rather then simply doing a fast and messy parry like in Condemned 1, you can simply hold LT and RT to continuous block, or tap it to parry. You attack with each side; left being left, right being right.


Right hook to the face, bi***!

Also, you get upgrades after each mission depending on how well you did in the mission, which is ranked by bronze, silver, or gold. Upgrades range in anything from new sneakers to a stun gun, so they are very helpful. As for some of the lesser action-y parts of the game, there are CSI-type scenes in the game which actually require you to *gasp* think (If was tough for me, you know? When have I EVER thought prier to this?) the crime scenes are very well done, and careful observation of the scene will indeed reveal the right answer, you just need to look close. After each scene you get a grade on how well you solved the mystery scene. To aid you in these scenes you get some pretty nice equipment as well, such as a UV light and spectrometer. Back to combat. Unlike Condemned 1, guns play a far larger role in Bloodshot, although the game is still dominated by hand-to-hand. most gun battles will take place near the last mission though. Gun play works great when you've got the alchohol to steady your aim (after you get the upgrade, its good then too). In other words, for being a game all about melee combat, guns work great. Ammo is also more abundant then Condemned 1, but it still needs to be rationed. Condemned 2 easily has the best melee combat system in any FPS out there.

FPS horror multiplayer scores points for originality
Replay Value. I was a bit reluctant to try out multiplayer, but for RV I needed to for this review. Multiplayer is a mixed feeling--the only really fair mode, team deathmatch, is great fun. 4 on 4, melee combat where you use the shadows to your advantage. In other words, stealth is perfected in this FPS multiplayer mode. Sadly, many of my teamates didn't seem to understand that (which would explain why I was able to best my entire team in my first game...) and so, without strategy its rather boring. I moved onto a mode called crime scene where its SCU vs. Infected. The infected have two boxes, each complete with severed heads inside that they must hide, while the SCU have to search for the boxes. Now heres the downside- SCU gets guns while Infected don't. So to kill an SCU officer, you need to know how to use stealth and be able to dodge bullets, fast. Doesn't always work. More often then not the SCU will win with flying colors (unless they're blind). Then theres bum rush, a great mode to play with friends. There are two SCU with health bars visible to all and 6 Infected. The infected respawn instantly, but die in a single shot from the SCU. So it takes an average of 20 infected to kill SCU officers, rather annoying unless you have friends in the game. other then multiplayer, theres Bloodshot fight club, which is kinda like a series of bloody minigames for the game. I haven't really explored these much. As for the single player story, its fairly short. However, you might want to go back through it another time on hard or FPS mode.

Lets get to it then! (Right on! Right on!)

Presentation: 4.5/5
Brilliant horror atmosphere, and intelligent(mostly) plot tie into one helluva good horror time.

Graphics: 4/5
While they are good and effects are well done, they're rather average in general.

Sound: 4.5/5
Sound effects are something this game going for it, but music is garbage.

Gameplay: 5/5
Great melee combat whose depth is unrivaled by any other FPS out there. Gunplay is great too, but hand-to-hand is exceptional.

Replay Value: 4/5
Tons to do if you like it. Multiplayer is good fun on XBL if you can find anyone actually playing. Especially deathmatch (best melee system in multiplayer rocks)

Overall: 4.5/5

I've met very little horror games that both thrill and chill. Monolith's new entry into their saga of Ethan Thomas does both. best horror game I've played in a long time.

PS Screenshots by me.