Monday 11 March 2013

Long time comeing the return of.....

It seems rather foolish after such an vast amount of time away from writing this blog that anyone would either notice my return or still check the blog to read it, but here we go lets have another crack at it.

Ive decided to evolve the blog from simply video game topics into a what ever the hell i want to write about kind of blog why not right after all i am in control.

That being said this this my focus will be games in particular Tomb Raider no not the ps1 classic but of course the 2013 re imagining reboot origin story from Crystal Dynamics, also i played a load of Football Manager 2013 and Metal Gear Rising.

So here we go first off the bat Tomb Raider, times not be kind to Lara gaming's first lady has been rather overlooked in recent years in favor of new pretenders to her throne or should that be oval office? Anyway 2013 has seen her return and doing the popular trick of doing a reboot to reinvent the series and character, after all who doesn't want to learn how some posh English school leaver becomes a professional thief. So the game story wise is meant to be adventure coming of age story with some tragic experiences thrown in the mix to keep your emotional levels rising, the idea is that at the begging of the game Lara is as green as a newly laid pitch at old trafford and leaves the game the action heroine you all know and maybe love. I found the story rather predictable and the moments where the game aims for genuine emotional impact fall wide of the mark, take for example when Lara is forced to take a life to save her own right at the start of the game, shes shown to be physically and mentally distraught after shooting this bad guy crying over his corpse and generally being a mess only for the cut scene to end with her taking up his pistol and sending hundreds of this mans comrades into early graves too without so much as a second thought. Gameplay wise you might feel that you've played this game before and you have only last time it was called Uncharted and started a guy called Nathan Drake with buckets more charm and charisma than dear old Lara. However thats not to say the game plays badly at all ask nearly any ps3 owner and they will no doubt sing Uncharted's praises from the highest building, Tomb Raider has cribbed the best in class in Uncharted and it shows the games tight and in my experience bug free. Combat is good and at first i found it exhilarating dispatching pirate bandits with a bow and arrow, sadly the game falls into the same trap as many others in the genre of not having any variety with opposition combatants there are basically guys who run at you in an attempt to stab you, guys who try to shoot you  or big guys with shields who slowly walk towards you lambasting your attempts to shoot them, later stages only add guys who take more damage then throws twenty or so at you at a time with no explanation as to where they come from.Overall i feel i enjoyed the game and over its ten or so hours there several good set pieces, so Lara's back in force with an origin story that i'm not convinced is actually hers if future Lara only knew where she came from she wouldn't be raiding tombs she would be in therapy.

So as i said earlier i had also played Metal Gear Rising and Football Manager. Metal Gear is like a amazing anime that you control, robot samurais fighting with men giant robots and United State senators crazy stuff and generally fantastic, you feel like a serious contender for bad ass of the year chopping everything that stands in your way into hundreds of smaller versions of themselves. The action is fast fluid and stylish the only black mark over this title is its length which is a common complaint of Platinum game titles running across the virtual finish line after 4 hours is just not nearly enough bang for your buck which is a shame because while it lasts its the best thrill ride of the year so far.

There are two types of people in the world those who find the idea of Football Manager boring and pointless, and then the type of people who cannot have just one more game and find themselves staring at their PC at 3.46 am on a Tuesday morning poring over some Spanish 15 year old's stats because he could be the next Maradonna. Its pretty much impossible to convince anyone why they would love this game but for a certain group of people its addiction personified and soon over takes eating sleeping and going to the toilet as necessary daily routines.

Thanks for reading post a comment follow me on Twitter @Raz7el, cheers see you guys, girls information collating C.I.A computers next time.      

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Top ten 2 oh 10

To quote everytime i die song titles ive been gone a long time, and now im back again with a list of then top ten games ive played this year and have been released this year.

10. Bayonetta. This is maybe the first new game i played at the beginning of the year and for all the parts that annoyed me and the bits that were bastard hard it was still a enjoyable game to play, Bayonetta is a cracking character with bags of personality. Well worth a play i would say.

9. Dead Rising 2. Im a bit of a nut on zombies i think there fantastic they improve every game they feature in. Even tho the story is a bit rubbish and the constant time limit on your game will annoy some people even tho i dont mind it. The main fun of the game is coop for me smashing zombies all over with a friend is great stuff using mental weapons like a chainsaw paddle.

8. Alan Wake. I really enjoyed this game even tho i didnt live up to its 4 years worth of hype i enjoyed its story and really got into the character of alan wake as he fights his way though the darkness and eventually his own mind.

7.Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. Im not a massive driving game fan but i and a fan of fun and this is one game with fun in abundance, made by the masters of crazy racers criterion who games us the stella burnout series. The game also has a very clever facebook inspired profile for all users called autolog which lets you know every time a friend beats your time and allows you too jump back into the race to beat there score very addictive.

6.Fable 3. The final chapter in the fable games where your new hero fights to become ruler of albion and deal with all the hard decisions that come with being a ruler, which is really where the game comes into its own as you have to weigh the pros and cons of all your decisions and how they will effect your population and how they view you as a person.

5.Halo Reach. Im a massive halo fan ive been playing them since the day it came out on the original xbox so to see this the best halo game ever released at only 5 on my list is kinda a suprise to even me such is the strength of the next 4 games. Anyway this is typical halo which to me feels very much like the first game again add to this the fantastic multiplayer and you have a very strong title.

4.Battlefield Bad Company 2. This is the best multiplayer game ive played all year far better than halo and miles better than call of duty imo, it has a far bigger scale than most online shooters combining tanks helicopters and boats leading to some interesting combat situations and the most fun you can have shooting a guy in the face. The single player campaign is not to sharp but thats not really the point.

3.God of War 3. The best game that came out on the ps3 exclusive that came out this year (tho i can only recall two other ps3 exclusives that came out this year) Kratos is a killing machine and his vengance on the gods of Olympus in horrific ways.

2.Mass Effect 2. I really really love this game as my review said ages ago. Stunning visuals and great gameplay its like sexy violent star trek. The dlc is also fantastic and worth buying this game is the total package.

1.Red Dead Redemption. Game of my year with dlc of my year. The game looks and plays amazingly with a story that draws you in to its world and refuses to let you leave by the end of this game i cared about the fate of protagonist John Marston more than my own need to eat sleep and shit its that enthralling, anyone who is yet to play this game is simply denying themselves a breath taking experience.

til next time

Sunday 28 March 2010

Farewell Mona Lisa

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!

last post was in january the 20th to be exact and it doesnt take a mathematician to work out that was kinda a while ago anyway on with the games!

Since most of what ive played has been either multiplayer or shit it narrows what i can talk about today so ive decided to pick four games two on xbox 360 although ones a multi format i just happen to have it on 360 and two ps3 exclusives (Guess which two).

Right so on xbox i played Mass effect 2 and Borderlands the latter you may remember i tried ages ago and decided it was shit however on a second try i loved it and got rather addicted to it.

Mass effect 2 to anyone who doesnt know is a epic sc fi adventure plotting the career of Commander Shepard of the human navy, and his struggle against the threat of the ancient robot alien race called the reapers who wanna bring all kinds of mad shit to the galaxy and whos end game can be summed up by the motto of "if it moves kill it". This being the 2nd installment it carrys on from the first game and has the mega cool idea of choices and events from the 1st game have an affect on the 2nd and 3rd (Yet unannounced) game. The main bulk of the game is missions to recruit your team of specialists to storm a collector's (Alien race working for the reapers) HQ, now the first game was a fairly deep rpg with fuck loads of weapons and armour for you party to wear and use, and in this respect the 2nd game is striped down to about 16 weapons and only Shepard's armour being changed however while it will annoy the hardcore fans (what doesnt) it personnally liked the streamlined approch to the game made it easier to keep track of things. The combat is now more gears of warish and more action based and a hell of a lot of fun A.I teammates are now effective in combat and covered and save my ass a few times during the lengthy game, Romance is also a big part to this game as it seems Shepard will try to get his cock or clung (gender choices all the rage nowadays) round or in anyone he meets which is rather amusing to witness and chatting up the slutty crew member called kelly became a favourite pass time of mine. The games amazing with great visuals and its ability to draw you in so much i shed a tear why my favorite crew member died towards the end, its hard to explain how great the game is so just go buy it.

Borders as i now lovingly call borderlands is possibly the most fun ive had for a long time on a game, 1 part shooter 1 part mmorgp and 1 part humor make this a really enjoyable romp though a desert world called pandora looking for a vault which holds untold rewards to anyone who finds it. You start as a weak bounty hunter and grow stronger during the course of the game by obtaining experience from doing quests and making murder happen but make no mistakes the game is punishing ignore the recommend level for each mission and get ready to fail a lot. The game also works in coop and is a lot of fun although brick hard if your on your 2nd play-though, theres a fair bit of dlc out for it too and its mostly very good so its worth getting that also. A really good game if you can get into it and even more fun with friends worth a buy.

Ps3 time and the games in question (to the suprise of nobody) Heavy rain and God of War 3 ill start with Heavy rain i think.

Heavy rain is (long pause) an interactive cut scene about 4 linked people and how there lives are affected by the actions of a serial killer the origami killer, we have a loving father searching for his son an FBI officer searching for a killer a private investigator searching for the same killer and a reporter and old female character searching for clothes that stay on her body. The game basically plays with u moving around by holding r2 and then moving the right thumb stick of shaking the controller to perform actions most of the time this works fine although i had a few times where the game just didn't recognize the way i moved the controller which made decsions that i didn't want to make, speaking of decsions the games advertisements claim every choice changes the game but talking to friends who played the game everything we did sounded like things still happend and played out the same way i understand this is trying to sell the game to people but i ended up disappointed at it. The plot is kinda messy also with things not really making a lot of sense in the long run of the game the identity of the killer is really poor and felt like a tacked on plot device to shock people also the FBI agents wild stabs in the dark that always seem to be right on the money and no matter what you do certain characters will not die, seriously i got the private investigator shot like 9 times and tied in a car at the bottom of a lake which i simply let flood only to find him on the riverbank. Overall i enjoyed the game but its not quite the masterpiece the ps3 reviewers would have you believe, a lot of fun but in the end its flawed although well done to the developers for trying something new if they do another game of this type it could be a masterpiece for sure.

God of War 3 is however a masterpiece this is for me the best game ive played on the ps3 or xbox for that matter since i got oblivion years ago.
I kinda unsure where to start with this game i could talk about the simply break taking visuals which put every game of this type to shame (dantes inferno and its ps2 engine wishes it looked like this) and many other games to shame also possible the finest visuals on a console or i could talk about the tight as fuck fighting system and the brutality of the game Kratos it seemed saved his best for last. The plot is basically a big quest for revenge by Kratos against the gods of olympus (not the camera company) to avenge his family that he was tricked into killing before becoming a pawn for the gods. while playing the game you will come across many gods from Zeus the main bad guy to Hermes and Hades who Kratos destroys in turn in some of the most horrific ways to ever grace video games or indeed cinema its that brutal. Not a great deal has changed in terms of game play since the first game but if it aint broke why fix it when a games this well made and this tight already a simple tweak is all thats needed this is simply the finest hardcore release since granny go wild 4 it screams must buy and is genuinely worth owning a ps3 for!

Thats it till next time when ever that will be, Sackboy says hi and wants me to remind you that the god of war little big planet dlc is epic and quite possibly the best thing you could ever buy.

Much love Raz7el


Wednesday 20 January 2010

Oh what a loverly tea party!

"Holy bad games blogger and the revenge of not writing a fucking thing batman" Robin said
"Shut the fuck up robin no one even likes you" Shouted batman.

Right i didnt blog for a couple of weeks ive been busy and needed some games to play to talk about and get asked to leave a GAME store. Anyway on to the games this last couple of weeks ive played Uncharted 2 (Uc2), Bayonetta (Ass) and ive begun Darksiders (Ds) and Dragon age (Da) ive added shorter names for each game so i dont have to keep typing them if anyones unsure why ive put ass for ass play it and find out.

Uc2 is fantastic to quote Frank ive covered wars you know West everything about the game is class set peice after set peice and some sexual inuendo whats not to love well nothing infact except for the couple of bastard annoying parts. The game is one part Tomb Raider and three parts Gears of War basically the game follows a simple rountine of shoot jump shoot puzzle and drake the main character making a comment about the rear end of one of the female companions who follow him around anywhere he goes. If the game was a movie it would be a summer blockbuster with the set peices buildings collapsing with you in them and train rides though the mountains with helicopters for company. However the annoying parts when they come mad me want to tear my hair out the last boss springs to mind it makes no sence to me that a game developer would make something that annoying and put it in there fine game. I did enjoy it and showed my what the ps3 is capable of more games like this will really go some way to making the ps3 seem like a good gaming console and not just a blu ray player that you can download ps1 games to.

Ass is all about the ass frankly every shot is of bayonetta's (fuck) ass this is somewhat distracting i would think if your 15 years old and have never been laid sadly i have been laid so i just spent time wondering why women i know dont look like bayonetta (fuck). The game plays great like devil may cry without a blond emo guy moaning all the time but a little more fast paced and is all about you abilty to dodge and counter with a huge amout of combos some that reduce the woman in questions clothes to disapear. The story is standard of this type of game cant remember your past slay angels and make sexual comments ride a missle like its a hige spunking cock. The game is punishing to the extreme make a mistake and expect to end up dead fast although stylishly. While i enjoyed the game i spent most of my time wondering is this it all you do is walk kill walk some more boss fight and the mini game I.E riding that cock i mean missle sadly the mini game parts are shit and really ruined the game for me dont fit well into the game and are to hard for there own good none in the sequal please. Its really good when its good which makes the bad parts seem even worse but its well worth playing.

DA is epic ive spend 14 hours on it so far and have barely started ive done loads of quest killed loads of monster but im yet to get the lesbian rogue into my bed i will tho and you will hear about it dont worry. The game plays like kotor but in the middle ages you make a character choose a class and get adventuring, moral choices are the in thing atm (even army of two is doing it BANDWAGON) are you good bad or a mix of both, but they have tried something different here making you choices affect both the quests and your team mates who have there own agendas and morals burn the church and gain the evil and hard as fuck warriors approval but lose the soft as shit pansy mans approval wait that wasnt a hard choice but you get the idea. You can lose yourself in a game like this and im sure many will bioware are masters of this type of rpg and but be warned anyone who signs up for this quest it will eat up your life.

DS is being described as Legand of Zelda with better combat but to me it feels more like Legacy of Kain the soul reaver games in particular and i have to say i love it, having just started the game theres not loads i can say other than at the moment im really enjoying it the character model of War is ace big and hard as fuck looking with enough detail to make you simply walk around and pan the camera 360 degrees round him just admiring the developers work. Ill write more next time when ive got more to say but right now im expecting big things from this although the combats not upto Bayonetta its a lot simpler and easy to get into.

Thats it for now thanks for reading dont wank to hard to bayonetta it makes it harder to play the game see you guys later.

Sackboy rules ok!

Wednesday 23 December 2009

We have your daughter Matrix it's about time you cooperate right? Wrong

Im not really sure where to start this blog as ive not really done anything in the last week or so that i havent already talked about before, so i got thinking about how i have viewed this last year and more spefically how i have viewed it in terms of games what were my highs what were my lows and what do i consider to be the GAME OF THE YEAR?

It has been an ok year that would be my overall view of it some good games some not so good, MW2 came along and scared some of the other fish out of the sea so in the end i cant help thinking that the year could have been a lot more than it turned out to be. That said there were still some great moments and some games that i really enjoyed so in reverse order here are my top 5 games of 2009.

5. "Resident Evil 5"

Having been a resident evil fan for as long as i remember this was kinda a no brainer i know some people have said its not scary and theres no zombies and all that other shit that makes me realise that if people like that made games we would still be playing the same shit we were 15 years ago change happens deal with it. I found it to be a lot of fun even if it was fairly mindless but coop is always great it had a good story and was wrapped up in stunning graphics this was most certainly an early year treat.

4. Shadow Complex

Shadow complex is a xbox arcade game and its better than a lot of in store releases this game is fucking great think metroid old school style with terrorist and a lead guy whos both Jack Bauer and Drake from uncharted rolled into one, Great fun at a low price a must download.

3. Left 4 Dead 2

If you think this game came out to soon after the orignal your right but that doesnt mean that its not brilliant loads of new features 5 news campaigns loads of new modes and the same fun with your mates from the first theres nothing here not to love. The first time a plan comes off perfectly in versus mode will make the cost of this game disapear pure enjoyment that you will replay loads. Also Ellis is one of the best caracters in a game for a long time funny as hell and with a high pitched girly scream to destroy your ear drums to that motherfucker keeps on giving.

2. Assassins Creed 2

Most improved sequal ever fact! I began writing this blog thinking this was my game of the year until something else came back into my mind however this is the most fun you can have with yourself without picures of megan fox this xmas its amazing and has a story thats longer than most games out there lots of bang for you buck with this title.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!


1. Batman Arkham Asylum

This is my game of the year even though i think Assassins Creed 2 is better but i think this deserves it for a few reasons firstly it shows that good comic games can be made and dont need to be quick cashins it has a really deep understanding of the batman universe and refrences almost everything locations villians everything no stone left unturned and its a amazing game which is only let down by some poor boss fights. A special mention must however be made for the voice acting which is second to none its brilliant Mark Hamil is there definitve Joker none of this Heath Ledger shit that bandwagon has moved on quicker than blaming George Bush for everything (I say he did a good job!)

Anyway thats it blog over go have a good xmas i know its been a shit read i had fuck all to write about so i dont want no shit.

Now fuck off and have a good xmas comments are welcomed and buy some Little big Planet dlc Sackboy has expenisve habbits and you dont want him to go feral on your asses and mug you on new years day!

Raz7el

Friday 11 December 2009

Its Christmas eve and ive only wrapped two fucking presents!

Merry fucking christmas how is everyone in internet land today? Ive been a busy guy and yet again ive neglected the blog but my new years resolution will be to update more often promise.

Game wise these last couple of weeks have been mega busy for me and ive been though a range of emotions brought on by games love, obsession, disapointment and hate.

First on to love and obsession these two emotions are mostly centred around assassins creed 2. I wasnt to excited about this game before it came out due to the first one being about as intresting as licking dog shit off your carpet and twice as repertive, but and this is a big but the sequal is astounding not so much licking dog shit off the carpet but licking Megan foxs carpet which im certain is nice and tidy. The general story of the game is following on from the first and is rather confusing so if you havent played the first id read the story on wikipedia or something first, the game has moved from the middle east to italy during the renassance and follows ezio the main characters progresion from cocky prick to cocky master assassin who you forgive for being cocky because hes hard as fucking nails and follow him on his tail of revenge in the past to find clues in the future like i said confusing. This could be the perfect sequal all the bad points from the first have been addressed head on the missions are no longer so dull you would rather go to work and do a double shift for free at a westlife concert insted of picking another dumb as fuck npcs pocket there varied and interesting (except the flying mission which drove me insane). There are now loads and loads of side missions taking the forms of assaination missions which are better than any that the first game had you perform to beating up unfaithful husbands and delivering letters which while not sounding fun are pretty good and best of all totally optional. The game also features an good idea where you can invest in a small city which serves as your base of operations which will bring you a steady income in and allow you to buy weapons and upgrades at reduced prices, speaking of weapons theres loads of them which lots of different counter kills and uses so expermenting becomes a big part of combat which is tricky at first but with practice you will be destroying city guards in no time and really goes a long way to make you feel like a master assassin. There really are not any huge negative parts to this game and nothing game breaking sure ezio sometimes decides to jump when he sound climb but its normally due to an error from the player that the game. I cannot recommend this game highly enough if your in two minds about buying it i say go for it im certain you will enjoy it.

Disapointment and hate came in the form of the saboteur this month which after wooing me with promises of being GTA 4 in ww2 liberating paris from those cheeky nazis only gave me a irish main caracter with a questionble accent foul mouth and animation that makes him run like hes shit his pants. I have to admit ive not given this game much more than an hour or twos play and its certainly to early to judge it to harshly because it could turn out to be great but rite now im skeptical its on the play when i have more time pile for now.

On a quick note i need to comment on Call of dutys mw2s fucking wank spawning system online how hard is it to make a spawning system that works? Im personally growing tired of dying then spawning round the coner with my back to the guy who just blew my brains all over the wall, call me old fasioned but if then other teams in one area of the map is it to much to ask to be spawned away from them? Needs a patch i reckon hopefully theres one in the works.

On a really sad note ive lost my 8 inch sackboy toy so if anyone sees him send him home we all miss him here.

Lastly ive played the Bayonetta demo this month and didnt really expect to much from this game but really enjoyed it so much so i pre ordered it too. I expected devil may cry with a woman and was rite but it feels far more fluid and slighty easier to get into and with any luck it wont end up being a repertive pecie of shit like DMC4, Its just a shame they have rated it 18 with a 15 rating it could have been the game of choice for horny lads goin though puberty to wank themsevles dry to i cant help think the developers would have made much more money had this key demographic been able to buy the game without having to get there parents involved.

Anyway hope you have enjoyed the read this time any comments are welcome even if you want to call me a cunt and in the imortal words of sean from the saboteur top of the fucking morning cunts!

Merry Christmas

Friday 13 November 2009

War what is it good for? Online multiplayer of course

Welcome back game fans its been a week or so since the last post and the world of gaming has rushed out of the dark and cemented a place in the main stream thanks to Modern Warfare 2!

Not that Modern Warfare is the only reason that games continue to grow in popularity and appeal but i have never seen a game cause such a huge impact, and what a game it is.

To say Modern Warfare 2 is simply Cod 4 revamped with a few extra features would do this game a great insult, sure the games are similar but the scope of MW2 is far bigger from its huge and deep mulitplayer with loads of new features perks and weapons to the special ops missions which are a series of short missions with varying objectives from races to coving a team mate from an AC130 plane with the added godlike feeling this provides jesus aint got shit on this!
Sure the single player is fairly short but it provides more memorible set peices and levels that most games managed over a full series short and very sweet is the term here. Theres really not a lot i can say about this game that you havent already read somewhere else for me its everything i wanted in a game and more Game of the year this very well maybe.

Also this week ive been spending time with two other games the Grand theft auto 4 expansion packs and the Left for dead 2 demo.

Grand theft auto episodes from liberty city should in its own right be as big of a release as MW2 but it wont get the attention it deserves due to the unstobbable march of MW2 so ill sing its praises from this blog to the next porn site you visit. The game continues the story of two characters who you have met before but may not remember from GTA4 Johnny the biker from the lost and the damned and Luis from the Balled of gay Tony both crop up during Nicos missions in GTA4, What these expansions do is show the other sides to these missions and the life of these two contrasting characters and the way they live there lives Johnnys all about brotherhood and loyalty and Luis loves money, bitches and his mother who hes never good enough for. What you can expect its more trademark GTA missions from the go hear steal this outrun the cops to stealing attack helicopters for rich arab business men playboys all in a days work (fucking beats my job thats for sure) and to top it off with an ace soundtrack and classic humor this is one game you cannot afford to miss Rockstar have done it again.

The L4D2 demo hit marketplace early last week and i have to say how much fucking fun is this game the first game was a mulitplayer classic and this one is bigger better and more boomer more campains weapons and game modes, I find myself in a rare position ive not played a demo this much since last year when the orignals demo came out if a demo keeps you intrested after more than 2 plays it must be fantastic. People have moaned about the sequal comeing out so soon after the first but i say this is no problem the graphics engine has been updated and theres bag loads more content, including the realism mode which while still wrapped in mystery as to how it will play has got me thinking that it will be something like four players start as the suvivors and as they die they become the infected and that sounds ace. I cannot wait for this game and strongly recomend you try it.

Thats everything for this week been a long drawn out affair but its done now, ill be back soon with more shit to bore you with so happy gaming till then.

Much love Raz7el x

P.S sackboys says buy some motherfucking Little Big Planet DLC