Video Game, video games, videogame

BioShock is an innovative role-playing shooter from Irrational Games who was named IGN’s 2005 Developer of the Year. BioShock immerses players into a war-torn underwater utopia, where mankind has abandoned their humanity in their quest for perfection.

Pros:

+Enticing storyline full of philosophy and intrigue
+Fantastic voice acting brings the already fantastic story to life
+Lots of variety in the gameplay
+Great sound effects
+Great music score
+All around beautiful game
+The atmosphere of the game never settles

Cons:

-There’s not much in terms of difficulty when you can always respawn
-There may not be enough new content to justify paying sixty dollars if you’ve already got the 360 version

In 2007 as I’m sure many know, Bioshock was released on the XBOX360. The game went on to become a huge classic and sell over a million copies. Earlier this year, it was announced the game would go to the Playstation 3. At first glance, it may not seem worthwhile to buy the game on the Playstation 3 if you played the 360 version, but some of the additions and enhancements just might change the minds of some gamers.

In the beginning of the game you are an unnamed man who happens to be on a plane that crashes seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, however, there is a lighthouse in sight. Once you step inside it is quite clear that this is no ordinary lighthouse and soon you descend in the undersea world of Rapture. Rapture is a totally free society in which no one is ruled by anyone, and it was built by a man named Andrew Ryan. Unfortunately, Rapture is anything but perfect. The once perfect world has now become imperfect and is overrun with splicers who thrive on Adam.

Bioshock has an incredible story that digs much deeper than simply being about a central antagonist and protagonist. In the end it’ll make you think. It’s a very absorbing game. Even is how it looks. It looked incredible on the XBOX360, but the visual experience is enhanced on the Playstation 3 and it looks even better than it did before. Much of it looks very real. Even better is the artistic design and attention to detail. The atmosphere itself is absorbing as well and really makes the world come alive.

Throughout the city you’ll also find recorded radio diaries that give you a good idea of what happened to Rapture. The voice acting in these diaries, and throughout the games various cutscenes is incredible. It really helps anyone become absorbed into the world.

Playing Bioshock is an even better experience. At it’s heart it is a first person shooter. You’ll find weapons that you can use to take down the splicers. Throughout Rapture you’ll also find plasmids which you can use to help you take down certain enemies. Some Plasmids can be used to electrocute splicers, or manipulate others. There’s a lot to BioShock’s gameplay that makes it interesting. In addition to the weapons and plasmids you can also hack the shopping arcades to lower prices, as well as hack security cameras and gun turrets to help you out against your enemies.

There’s nothing incredibly difficult about it’s gameplay. It’s simple enough. Perhaps a little too simple. Bioshock is not a game where you ever really permanently die. If you happen to die you’ll respawn from a Vita-Chamber where you’ll be able to go right back up to the enemy that killed you. The enemy’s health never changes. So essentially, if you’re stuck you can keep respawning until you kill whatever it is giving your trouble. This essentially means BioShock is never too difficult. You may get tired of dying, but you can never die permanently.

What exactly is new in Bioshock on the PS3? Well, the graphics are smoother and you get a new difficulty setting. While the new difficulty is enticing, it doesn’t really add too much. The enemies are stronger and you pick up less ammo etc., but it’s not really enough to entice anyone who owns the 360 version to really pick this one up. So if you’ve played one of the previous versions of Bioshock, there isn’t really too much here that makes it worth getting again. At least not for the price tag of the game itself.

Bioshock is still an amazing game even a year later. It may not be worth it to buy the PS3 version if you’ve played the XBOX360 version already, but if you have a PS3 and you haven’t played Bioshock yet, it’s worth checking out.

I don’t think that I can possibly say how much fun this game is so far. I’m well into the 10 hour plus mark of Bioshock and time is flying by.

The story is that your plane crashes in the middle of the Atlantic and you discover a secret society where something has gone horribly wrong. That’s the fun part. You get to explore this entire underwater utopia where lots of things want to kill you. And it’s set in 1960 so the art and technology pays homage to the 50’s.

This is the PS3 version. I know that there are 2 other versions for the Xbox 360 and the PC. However this is the only one that I have played. So I can’t compare this to either of the other two versions. Regardless, I’m blown away by the graphical detail and the sound. There’s always some noise in the background where you know there’s some creepy enemy doing something but you haven’t found them yet. Or they haven’t found you yet…. It’s a fun FPS but with a lot more story than most and a bit more thinking.

Its a copy of god of war and similar to prince of Persia. Many people who have played god of war rate Dante very low because they consider it to be a ripoff. I have played god of war (1 & 2) and I still enjoy Dante very much and consider it a very good game. I would definitely recommend it, specially to those who only have an xbox since the only game that could be better than Dante in that genre is God of War 3 which is a Sony exclusive.

The good: Epic stages/levels plus battles. Good story, obviously based on the book. Is not a button smasher type of game, it has several type of combat moves that give you options for fighting combos. You get to keep all the upgrades you got in one difficulty when you play the game again in a higher difficulty level. A future DLC will include multi-player co-op.

The bad: Some say the game is too short, it can be finished in around 5 – 7 hours. When I finished the save file said that I had spent around 17 hours playing. Other say that after a few levels it gets repetitive, so far the only thing that I have found too repetitive is the wall climbing thing.

Other things that you should know is that the game is very explicit, I wouldn’t play it around kids nor sensible adults lol. After all, the main character is suppose to be in hell so that kind of explains why it is so explicit. The background sound most of the time is people lamenting obviously because they are in hell, this might not be annoying to the player but to anyone in the same room trying to do other stuff it might. So far I give the game an 8/10 score which means that it is a worth buying game. But before buying it play the demo, that was what convinced me to buy the game on top of a $10 GC offer from amazon.com.

I picked this game up and it has exceeded my expectations. It plays like God of war and it has a very interesting story line. The only thing I would take out of the game is all of the blatant sexual innuendo. I am an hour into the game and I have seen babies explode out of pus filled nipples with tongues, huge golden penis statues, vagina wall entrances and last but not least, the flaming rectal sphincters. Yes, I said flaming rectal sphincters. Who thinks of this stuff? Seriously, I think the game could have done without that, but it is truly disturbing and it adds hellish authenticity to the game. After seeing this depiction of hell I think I am going to start going to church again! The game plays very well, just make sure your kids don’t walk in on you when you are playing it because it makes for an awkward moment. I actually pushed the off button on the console to make the nipples squirting babies out of them disappear so my kids did not see it. I ended up having to retrace the level because I did not save before that. With all of that said, the game is a solid 4.5

ESRB Rating: Mature

Electronic Arts

You’re Batman:
You play as Batman, does it get any cooler than this? The gadgets are fun, way cooler than what you typically see in other adventure games. As you earn experience from defeating baddies you can use that xp to purchase upgrades for gadgets and combat moves. This is great because you can choose the upgrades that suit your needs as the game progresses. Extra damage resistance, more batarangs, special combat moves – its your choice.

Combat:
This is probably one of the best combat systems I’ve played with. Let me start by saying each fight, each time you go against an enemy, each punch and kick looks choreographed. Its that awesome. What I really love about the combat system is you can choose how much time you want to spend learning it. If you don’t really want to learn it right now you can just button mash and get through the game, might get difficult especially towards the end but that’s your choice. If you want to put in the effort to learn the timing of combos you are rewarded with critical hits and bonus xp meaning easier fights and earlier upgrades. I chose to not learn how to do the combos effectively and just button mashed. After beating the game, however, I started working on the combat challenges and those forced me to get better at the combos. I enjoyed the combat portions exponentially after that. No joke. I recommend taking the time to learn the combos, its worth it gameplay wise and fun level wise.
Combat can be as simple as just pushing square for punch. But there is also Counter, Dodge, Cape Stun, Throw, Instant Takedown, Batarang, Batclaw, and Ground Takedown. Do all 9 and you earn a trophy and a nice variation bonus. Check YouTube for some great videos showing how intense the combos can get.

Challenges:
As you progress through the game you unlock challenges which let you replay parts of the game to get the highest score (leader boards). There are only two types of challenges – predator and combat. Predator is you’ve got a room full of bad guys on patrol and you have to take them all out in the shortest amount of time possible. Each predator challenge has 3 medals you can earn for things like doing a silent takedown on a bad guy or taking out a bad guy with an explosion. They become increasingly difficult, such as one medal for taking out 3 bad guys using 3 different explosives on 3 different walls – that one took me a while.
Combat challenges are simple, there’s a room full of bad guys coming at you and you have to take them all out – trying to get the highest score. The higher your combo the more points. The 3 medals are always just points thresholds. So the key to completing/medalling these challenges is mastering the combat system. If you get all medals on all challenges you earn a trophy, and you know its so worth it!

This is a fabulous game that is immensely fun. Controls are easy, being batman is a great time. The main campaign has a good length and the challenges are a lot of fun to do and get more life out of this game. I’m looking forward to replaying it on hard. Batman Arkham Asylum is a game that focuses on a few things – single player, gadgets, combat, etc – and does them superbly. One of the most fun games I’ve played.

pros:
+great graphics
+great voice acting
+interesting plot
+challenge rooms for re-playability
+ps3 only free content on psn

Cons
-bad lip syncing (noticeably bad)
-short (12-15 hours)

ESRB Rating: Teen

by Eidos

Product Features

I deeply enjoyed this game. The music was a bit odd and the vs backgrounds were a little less to pick from and the load times do take a bit. Some of the cpu characters are a bit much to play against and a few button pushes hear and there can do immense amounts of damage. There is a slight balance problem meaning you will have to work a bit more to beat other heavy hitter with some other characters but it can be done. Online play… Forget it. To unbalanced. I do like playing the ‘ghost’ characters, those are fun, sometimes. But again you get a character or two that can whipe the floor with ya. Not so impossible that it isn’t fun to play though. I do enjoy the new characters, especially bob and the customizations are fun to work through. Not the best game out there, but fun enough on your own or with a player next to you. The graphics are good enough for ps3.

As a long time Tekken fan I’m happy to write the newest installment is awesome. First off the character models are very polished (maybe a little too much.) However the environments have incredible detail. Online play is alot more fluid this time around. you don’t lose connection via mic when battling online. They have also added a new ranking system. Offline play offers the same modes as usual. Story mode is back this year and its as boring as ever. I wish they would bring back bowling. There are 5 new characters. I was very impressed with the new fighting styles these characters bring. There are new features as the bounce technique. this is where during a combo you can bounce your opponent against the ground to continue a juggle. Also weapons have been added but only as a combo finisher (except for yoshimitsu.) Overall I strongly recommend this game to any hardcore fighting fan. The depth and detail is awesome!

To date, I’ve invested more than 150 hours in Dragon Age. I bought all the DLC. For me, all Bioware games are Must-Play. But I can’t make the argument that Awakening is Must-Own. It all depends on what you care about. Bioware games work on four pillars. Story World. Level-up System. Romance. Replayability. Awakening has two of the four. By 25% more Dragon Age, I expect to get 35 hours out of Awakening. Three play throughs, about 12 hours each. Warrior, mage, thief. I don’t count that at as full replayability. I expect to get 6-8 play throughs for a Bioware game. Awakening doesn’t let you use any of your DLC. Awakening has no romance. No old romance. No new romance. With no romance and no dlc and no full replayability, I consider Awakening 50% of a Bioware experience.

The same writers, the same artists, the same level of excellence. If you understand what you’re getting, Awakening is easy to love. New quests are fun. Meeting new characters are fun. It’s bittersweet that you don’t get to continue with your old companions, but that’s part of the emotional experience. You have to imagine making leather-bikini love to Morigan in that secret part of your mind while you’re splattering fresh darkspawn blood. Or you can treat this mission as optional, and never make the trip. It’s your Fantasy. You don’t have to play it. You don’t have to buy it. You don’t have to give Bioware your money.