The Nerdy Gamer • Posts Tagged ‘game review’

The next game on my review list is Duke Nukem Forever for XBox 360.

SPOILERS

Genre/Company

Duke Nukem Forever is a first person shooter for the XBox 360, PS3, Windows, and Mac OSX. Although this game was finished by Gearbox and Piranha Games, development started in 1997 with 3D Realms and Triptych Games. Dates constantly changed, development teams were lost, and in 2001 3D Realms basically said “It will be released when it is done. Then after a long wait, Duke Nukem Forever was released on June 14th, 2011. (Final Fantasy Versus XIII better release quicker than that, or I will cry.)

Story

About 12 years after Duke Nukem 3D, Duke has become a worldwide icon. Duke is on his way to an interview when he is informed it has been cancelled, due to coverage of the aliens that have arrived. Duke makes his way to the Duke Cave where he is contacted by the president to stay out of the whole situation. While sitting around Duke is attacked by the aliens, who also wreak havoc upon his building. As Duke is fighting his way through the building he witnesses his chicks being captured by the aliens. This sends Duke on a rampage as he battles against all kinds of aliens to put an end to them.

Characters

Duke Nukem is a famed hero for saving the Earth from aliens time and time again. Duke comes off as your typical badass man whore. Though he seems like a serious dude, he always has time to make fun of things like Mario, Halo, Gears of War, Dead Space, and even Mickey Mouse. Duke Nukem’s voice actor is Jon St. John. Jon also voices Big The Cat from the Sonic series and is the PvP announcer for Guild Wars 2.

Game play

Though the weapon arsenal is very small in this game, you can also throw many objects that are capable of killing. You can use steroids to make your melee attacks do amazing damage, drinking beer causes Duke to become resistant to damage, and you can also use Holo-Dukes to distract enemies. Your health bar in this game is Duke’s Ego, though there is nothing like health packs, you can execute enemies to fill it or simply let it recharge. Boss battles can be pretty intense, for you can only use explosives and rockets to hurt them. At the end of each battle, you can do special executions, some which are hilarious.

Controls

The controls were really simply, your average default settings for any first person shooter. Triggers for shooting and grenades. Joysticks for movement and aiming. Directional pad lets you choose between beer, duke vision, holo-duke, and steroids.

Conclusion

Duke Nukem Forever had terrible reviews, people thought it was garbage. Eurogamer - 3/10, IGN - 5.5/10, and Gamespot - 3/10. I loved this game. There was so much action, the jokes always made me laugh, Duke in general was just a badass, you also had a chance to drive a massive monster truck and a remote control car. This game was extremely fun and hilarious. The only thing I did not like was that there were too many sluts. I am giving Duke Nukem Forever an 8/10.

Here is a photo of me and Duke at EB Games. xD

For my next game, I will be reviewing American McGee’s Alice for XBox 360. Although originally on PC this game was ported as downloadable content when Alice Madness Returns came out for XBox 360 and PS3.

SPOILERS

Genre/Company

Set in an alternate reality of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland,” this third person action game was developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. The game also features music composed by Chris Vrenna.

Story

After Alice’s second adventure to Wonderland, she soon finds herself at Rutledge Asylum after the death of her family in a house fire. While at Rutledge she is under the care of Dr. Heironymous Wilson and the only thing she has to call her own is a stuffed rabbit. 10 Years after the incident, Alice winds up back in Wonderland, to find it was become dark and contorted due to Alice’s mind. As Alice sets out to restore Wonderland and her sanity to its’ rightful order she is accompanied by Cheshire Cat. Throughout the game she battles many people from her once beloved Wonderland such as Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, The Jabberwock, and many other characters.

Characters

Alice: You might as well forget the Alice you once knew. While maintaining her image, even though there are a few minor changes, Alice comes off as a completely different person. Alice’s attitude has taken quite a leap; she’s dark, cold hearted, full of sarcasm, and is quite violent when it comes to fighting. Though she is a pretty tough character, she has her moments of weakness. She has a large amount of guilt for being the only survivor in a fire that killed all of her family.

Game play

Throughout the game you obtain a unique arsenal of weapons to destroy the enemies of what used to be Wonderland, with the Vorpal Blade as your main weapon. A lot of weapons focus require magic/mana to use which can be obtained by killing enemies, although some weapons have melee which require nothing more than the push of a button. The game has many puzzles, obstacles, and boss battles to keep you entertained and possibly frustrated. The game proved to be difficult, but I enjoyed it.

Controls

There weren’t many controls within the game, so the developers had a lot of options on how they wanted it set up. The game had the default 3rd person camera controls. The triggers were used as primary and secondary fire. “A”(XBox) and “X”(PS3) were used for jumping. “Circle”(PS3) and “B”(XBox) were used as the action button.

Setting

American McGee’s Alice took place in an alternate reality of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. With a much darker and malevolent feeling to it.

Conclusion

American McGee’s Alice was a really good change for me. One thing that I really enjoyed about this game was that the game was hard. Like really hard, there was so many times I was frustrated and one boss battle took me about 20-30 tries before I figured out how to beat it. My friend and I had a little discussion on how newer games, especially shooters are too easy. It’s so true. I know my skill has improved over the years, but I still think the games are too easy. I can go back and try to beat older games I played, but still no luck. Anyway, continuing with the review. I really enjoyed the new look/personality they gave Alice. Not only was the redesign of Alice great, but the main characters of Wonderland were spectacular. I am giving American McGee’s Alice a 9/10. GO BUY THIS GAME! Also I suggest getting Alice Madness Returns, I am playing that soon.

The next game up for review is Hunted: The Demon’s Forge for Playstation 3. (I’m sorry XBox we haven’t gotten any alone time in a while.)

I am going to try to separate the review into sections to make the review a little better. I felt my last ones were kind of all over the place.

SPOILERS

Genre/Company

This third person action game was developed by InXile Entertainment and publish by Bethesda Softworks. It is for Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

Story

You play as E’lara and Caddoc, two mercenaries on following a vision which was seen by Caddoc. As you follow this vision, a death spirit named Seraphine promises you power in return for aiding her. You battle sorts of demons, minotaur, skeletons, and orclike creatures called wargar as you try to uncover the cause of all this chaos.

Characters

E’lara is one of the last known remaining elves alive after the minotaur exterminated her kind. She specializes in bow and arrows, while having a short sword as her secondary weapon. While E’lara seems like a small kind elf, she is a force to be reckoned with. She becomes overly excited when it comes to killing and blowing things up, which is why I use her the most.

Caddoc is very toned human who acts cautious and always says E’lara will be the death of him. He specializes in heavy weapons, while using a crossbow as his secondary weapon. Though he comes off as a tough brute, it is easy to see he cares for E’lara. I haven’t played as him much, so I didn’t get a good feel for him yet.

Game play

The game play is kind of repetitive, but still fun. Throughout the game you can acquire crystals to use as currency to buy enchantments for your weapons or to buy casting spells. There are also unlocks you can acquire by doing certain things. Ex. Killing 100 enemies with a bow will increase the amount of damage you do with a bow and the amount of arrows you can carry. The game has co-op, which is pretty sweet. You can either play split-screen, LAN, or over PSN/XBox Live. The AI’s always have a tendency to run in front of you when you are trying to go anywhere. I also found it hard to tell them what to do sometimes. The option to push the button never came up sometimes.

Controls

The controls played out very nicely. Basically the default controls for any third person shooter. This has very similar controls to Gears of War. The developers actually used every button possible, still with the limited choices they managed to make it work almost perfectly. This is just in my opinion, not everyone has the same preference in controls.

Voice Actors

E’lara - Laura Bailey (She also plays Serah Farron in Final Fantasy XIII-2)

Caddoc - Graham MacTavish (I frigging knew he played Cutter in Uncharted 3! I kept saying “That’s Cutter.”)

Seraphine - Lucy Lawless

Setting

The game takes place in a medieval time with a dark tone to it.

Conclusion

Though there were minor things that annoyed me such as the AI’s and that it was a little two repetitive, the game overall was great. It basically showed me what a medieval Gears of War would be like. The voice acting was great, characters really showed personality and emotion, controls played out well, and the story was excellent. I would really like to see more games like this, perhaps one with an open world. Though the game can be pretty fun single player, I highly suggest you play it co-op for a much better experience.

I am giving this game an 7.5/10.

The next game on my list of reviews is Killzone 3 for Playstation 3.

Killzone 3 picks up right where two left off, replaying the role as Tomas “Sev” Sevchenko. Sev and the rest of the remaining ISA are stranded on the Helghan planet in a desperate struggle to live or die.

The story in this game is really spectacular and well worth the play. You get quite a feel for the character’s personalities and what kind of person they really are. Did I mention how badass Helghast look? It wasn’t till I played both the Killzone series and the Gears of War series, that I realized how similar they were. It’s not just the feel of the game, but the characters, weapons, and even the fact that a dwindling army is trying to survive from a worldwide take over.

The game play is so much fun. Plenty of cool weapons, cover system, online multiplayer is a blast, and they have bots if you don’t have online. I still have to finish up the co-op though.I used to play Killzone all the time on ps2 with one of my friends always taking on bots to improve our skill.

The only problem I had with this game, like many other war games, was the AI’s in the story mode. I would be down and my ally would be right beside me saying “You’re too far away, I can’t revive you!” Seriously? Then again it wasn’t that big of a deal, it might be on the hardest difficulty though. Who knows?

The landscape in Killzone was spectacular, plenty of detail in the scenery. The way the Helghan planet was really made me feel unwanted, that the planet wasn’t mine to walk. I imagine plenty of people have compared the Helghast to Nazis, which is easy to see.

I have a 3D and tried it out. Never again, I can’t play games in 3D, let alone a first person shooter. It hurts my head and my reaction time seems slower.

I recommend Killzone 3 to anyone who loves a good FPS, with a great story of struggle, badass characters and enemies. This review is so bad.

I am giving Killzone 3 a 8.5/10.

The next game up for review is Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception for Playstation 3.

*SPOILERS*

In Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception you take on the role of Nathan Drake, the same protagonist as the previous games. You along with Victor Sullivan and other characters, are on the search for the Atlantis of the Sands. Just like the other Uncharted games the story was excellent and had that Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider feel to it. Naughty Dog did really well with adding a good feel to this game, which not only dramatic and suspenseful, but also emotional.

I didn’t really see much of a difference in the game play to its’ previous titles, but then again it didn’t really matter. For some games holding onto their original game play works, others try to milk it dry. -Cough- CoD -cough- Anyway continuing on, the game play works beautifully. I never had a chance to experience the online multiplayer or co-op game play yet.

The controls were kept the same which I really enjoyed. I am not a fan of when a series changes their control scheme, but some are made better in a way.

You finally had a chance to learn a bit more about Nathan and Sully’s past. However, I wish I knew more about what happened between Drake and Elena.

The one thing I love about this game, same as its’ previous titles, is the fact that they always keep me on the edge of my seat. It’s like I can have no interruptions, like I have to play it in one sitting. When I first started I got halfway through and had to go to work. All I did was think “WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN? I NEED TO KNOW!”

Anyway, to conclude this, I highly recommend this game, NO! THIS series to anyone that loves things like Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, National Treasure, and anyone who loves a good story with a historical feel to it.

I am giving Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception an 8.5/10.

The next game up for review is Dead Space for ps3.

You play as Isaac Clarke an engineer, who with other crew members, are on their way to the USG Ishimura’s distress signal. At first sight the ship appears to be completely deserted, no sign of life. However, you soon encounter life forms called necromorphs. You and the crew then try to make your way off the planet. I am trying to leave out very little, because I don’t want to spoil any story for others who want to play.

I for one enjoy scary/suspenseful games, sadly I can’t find one that makes me really scared, yet. Anyway.

Dead Space had quite the unique atmosphere, which really made the game play a lot scarier in a way. I really enjoy games where the main character is just your “Average Joe,” and he has to use what items he can, to overcome obstacles. I don’t usually play 3rd Person games, especially one like Dead Space. When I play FPS games I am constantly aiming for the head or the torso. I felt helpless at first, but after I got the hang of it, I was tearing through enemies. The story was really well written, it kept me on the edge. Some characters, some characters, I despised…..The game play was a big change, in a really good way. More games need to be original and not copy other games. Once again, I’m not reviewing graphics, because I feel games need to focus less on graphics and more on things like story, game play, characters, and relating to the player.

I will never feel the same about “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” That song is officially creepy.

If you like suspense, horror, unique game play, and video games, I suggest playing this game.

I am giving Dead Space a 9/10.

I have done video game reviews the last time I had a Tumblr account, and I really like giving my opinions on games, even though very few know what I like about games. So now I am going to continue doing game reviews every time I beat a new game.

The first game I shall be reviewing is Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. I bought Jak and Daxter the HD Collection for ps3 because, well I never played any of the series before. ( ) <——— Insert “OMG,” “WTF,” or whatever you want after you read that part.

The gameplay was fun and simple. You had your basic attacks, but there were also special attacks, but only at certain points within the game. I think it was a good design to make special attacks only available at certain times, that way the player had more appreciation for them. (Which I did) The movement had a nice flow to it and there wasn’t just walking. You could roll, jump, double jump, spin, use a vehicle. I can see why many Ratchet and Clank fans enjoy the Jak and Daxter series and vice versa. They are similar in many ways, but they have their own uniqueness to them.

The controls were easy to figure out and I wasn’t spoon fed the entire game. I for one hate tutorials, I rather learn the controls myself or how to do certain things within the game.

The graphics were amazing for there time and I could care less about graphics. To be honest I probably won’t include a graphics section under any of my reviews because I believe graphics play a very little role in video games. Sure they can make in game videos frigging amazing, such as Final Fantasy cutscenes. However, when it comes to games, the things I find important are story, characters, gameplay, music, and the way I connect with the game. Some games have made me cry, and I feel that is incredible if game designers can connect that well with their audience.

The story was pretty good, I don’t want to get into too much detail for fear of spoiling the story. The story begins with Jak and Daxter, making their way to Misty Island, against Samos’, the Green Sages, demands. After arriving, they see two people addressing an army of evil Lurkers. The duo prepare to leave, but are attacked by a large Lurker. Jak manages to destroy it using a barrel of Eco, but the explosion throws Daxter into a pool of Dark Eco. Daxter flies back out of the pit, transformed into an ottsel, a hybrid of an otter and a weasel. Returning to their village of Sandover, they seek help from Samos who states that only Gol Acheron and his sister Maia, the Sage of Dark Eco who lives far to the North, could change Daxter back.

I really enjoyed the character designs and the personalities this game had to offer. Daxter ended up being pretty humorous at times, while Jak was the strong silent type. Daxter actually made me laugh quite a bit.

Anyway, to conclude this. For someone who never played the series before, I had lots of fun, the story kept me wanting more, the gameplay was very easy to get used to, the boss battles were a blast and I am definitely going to beat the rest of the series. I recommend this series to anyone who has played games like Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, or anyone really. This game was awesome. The only problem I had with it was I died too much and I really wished I played it sooner. I am giving it a 9.5/10.