In case anyone who normally reads this are wondering why there hasn't been a new review up this week it's simply because I am in "Finals Mode." I'm not going to really be worrying a lot with this blog until next Thursday, May 3rd, when I'm completely done for the semester.
I do have a game review being worked on, it's just going to take a while before it's actually published. So don't think I just blatantly ditched this blog... School is more important folks.
>'-'<
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Would you kindly read my blog?
Would You Kindly... Read My Blog?
Ahh, one of the most successful first-person shooters of this generation, Bioshock, makes an appearance in my video game blogs. This game is probably, in my opinion, one of those games that you can NOT grow bored with. The characters that you face are just so freaking creepy, the atmosphere is even creepier, and the story that this game has is just stunningly beautiful. I’m also glad that each game that’s been released, (or in the process of being made) you’re playing as a different character, playing differently than the other, and is in a situation much different than the previous hero/anti-hero.
Bioshock has you in the underwater city, Rapture, surviving on your own with help from a guy named Atlas. You’re Jack, a man who is currently being a servant to the phrase “Would you kindly.” Jack must survive against the Splicers, one of a few main enemies in the game, as well as the Big Daddies, somewhat of a sub-boss of the game. These guys are freakishly tough and strong, and it requires you to have some sort of a strategy to take them down. You can’t just rush into a room that has a Big Daddy in it and just shoot the living crap out of him, because most games tend to think, “Oh, this is just some random AI that I’m pitted against, all I have to do is just shoot it to kill it.” Well, the developers of Bioshock took that one step further to where you must have at least some sort of a decent strategy to take it down. These Big Daddies are tough because they’re protecting the Little Sisters. These guys are crucial to your survival in Rapture because they’re carrying the single most important item to have to live in Rapture... ADAM.
Let’s talk about ADAM and EVE here for a bit. Shall we...? What was harvested from a sea slug, their unstable stem cells are believed to be carrying a totipotent stem cell that can differentiate into any cell type. They can be genetically manipulated to produce cells that you wouldn’t find in any kind of human bodies. They’re like cancer, destroying cells and creating their own, unstable versions. They hold tremendous powers, although, what holds great power also holds great consequences. The cells that produces these powers also damages or disfigures the people both mentally and physically to the point they stop being human and act more like a higher ordered thinking zombie than can use weapons. You have to keep finding more and more ADAM just to remain sane and healthy. EVE, on the other hand, are modified versions of ADAM. You can collect what are called EVE Hypos to restore your EVE which used to utilize the special cells in your body for the powers. You see, your character has the ability to hold special powers such as an electrical bolt, flame, fire, and random of other goodies to throw out against your enemies. These cost EVE, and EVE Hypos restores your EVE bar. ADAM buys you more powers...
In the end, you’re just one major bad ass that can destroy enemies within a heartbeat if this was real.
These enemies are hunting down these Little Sisters because, as stated, are carrying ADAM. Splicers are deformed humans on Rapture who are just insane, messed up creatures who used a bit more Plasmids, which are processed ADAM... Your abilities that you gain throughout the game, as well as Rapture’s Civil War that took place. These guys murdered a LOT of the people who lived in Rapture due to their deformities because how they abused ADAM. As stated, ADAM is like a drug, and what do drugs do in the real world when they’re overused? They mess your brain up like what a frying pan does to a single egg.
This is what you have to face in Rapture when you’re Jack. Poor mind-slave Jack. Did I tell you that you’re basically a slave in the hands of a powerful being that you wouldn’t think possible? Yeah, unfortunately, who you thought was your friend, turns out to be an impersonator. Atlas isn’t Atlas, he’s Frank Fontaine, smuggling, mobster-like s.o.b. who challenged Andrew Ryan’s claim over the city... which turned into its downfall. Atlas is really dead. Fontaine has been commanding you to do this and to do that by a simple phrase of, “Would you kindly.” And by doing so, you do it. “A man chooses, a slave obeys,” another saying in Bioshock that is really important.
Andrew Ryan is an enemy, but he isn’t really your enemy, just Fontaine’s enemy. But you do kill him, and Fontaine.
That’s all I really want to spoil for Bioshock if you guys haven’t gotten a chance to play Bioshock... But I thought it would be interesting to note some big twist in the game.
The second one is even more interesting. How so? Well... Let me first begin by telling you that you get to play as a Big Daddy. Yes, you are in control of the giant s.o.b.’s that you were fighting against in the first game. You do get to destroy them again in this game, but having to be as one is just... awesome, you know?
So, you’re a Big Daddy, anything else that’s different? Well yeah! The fact that you can actually have one of the Little Sisters helping you obtain more ADAM for yourself rather than having a decision to “Rescue” or “Harvest” them when you encounter them. You have the ability to “Adopt” if you want to be good for a bit and have them scout out corpses throughout the levels for you to get more ADAM. Of course, you still have the option to “Harvest” them whether you just defeated a Big Daddy or you’re done gathering more ADAM with her. If you’re more towards the kind-hearted side, you can always “Rescue” them.
But, there’s a downside to when you’re freeing them... The Big Sisters. Now, for those who haven’t even touched Bioshock 2 yet but have played Bioshock 1, let me begin by telling you that the Big Sisters are worse than the Big Daddies. Yeah, they’re faster, they throw more at you, such as fire bombs, and they have this annoying scream that just pierces your ears. So guys, try not to play this game on full blast. They scream before you encounter them, letting you know that a fight is about to happen. Honestly, freezing them and shooting them works for me.
What is the story for this game? How can a Big Daddy have a lot happen to him to where an entire game is focused on him? Well, you had a Little Sister adopted, Eleanor. She was truly your Little Sister... But a woman name Sofia Lamb was not going to stand by for this. In fact, Eleanor is her daughter. She didn’t like the fact that you adopted her daughter. So what she did to you instead? She made you shoot yourself with that mind-control like what Jack suffered in the first game.
Your objective is to search for Eleanor... years later after this incident happened. Throughout the story, she helps you by giving you presents behind her mother’s back, mostly plasmids, and she also has a message to leave behind on why she’s doing this and hoping that you come rescue her as fast as you can. Throughout the game though, you’re going to find yourself hating Sofia Lamb more and more with what she has to say to you.
In this game, there’s something new added to the game. There’s going to be NPC’s (non-playable characters) that you will encounter, and you have the chance to either just let them be or kill them right on the spot. Of course, whatever you decide to do either has dire consequences or could help you.
Both of these games has endings that depends on your actions throughout the game. The kinder you are to the Little Sisters in the first game, you get the good ending, which means if you didn’t harvest any of them, you get a nice ending in the end. If you harvested the Little Sisters, however, you’re going to get a bad ending. In Bioshock 2, it’s the same thing, if you rescued more than you harvest, you get the good ending, if you harvested more than you rescued, you get the bad ending. You also have to not kill the NPCs too to have a good ending, or if you kill them, you’ll get the bad ending... Well, killing them will not definitely get you a bad ending just like that, it’ll progress your character’s ending towards the bad direction.
Sofia’s fate in the second game depends on your actions... Let’s just say that without really spoiling anything... As well as Eleanor’s actions... The ending effects that as well.
Last but not least, we have Bioshock Infinite that’s going to be released really, really soon. I cannot wait. This time, you’re playing as Booker DeVitt, and you have a partner name Elizabeth, who’s got incredible powers that will help you along the way. Although, keeping her around is going to leave you guys facing Songbird. You know how throughout Bioshock, you were facing a Big Daddy and in Bioshock 2, you were facing a Big Sister... both who were on ground for most of the fight? (Despite that a Big Sister can jump around like crazy) Yeah well, Songbird... flies. (It shouldn’t have been hard to notice that since “bird” is in its name) This thing is after Elizabeth. Oh, and did I forget to mention that you’re not in Rapture anymore? Instead, you’re in a sky city called Columbia. I’m not really going to spoil anything or talk more into depth about what this game is because the trailers do most of the talking for you.
Bioshock is an awesome game literally with no flaws at all. The only minor annoying thing that this game has is when you’re play it for the very first time and it has to load... That loading time takes such a long time to load, you know... But still, this game is clearly flawless and I truly recommend to anyone who enjoys thrillers, first-person shooters, and into a very detailed story to get this game. You don’t want to miss a beat with it!
>’-’<
Ahh, one of the most successful first-person shooters of this generation, Bioshock, makes an appearance in my video game blogs. This game is probably, in my opinion, one of those games that you can NOT grow bored with. The characters that you face are just so freaking creepy, the atmosphere is even creepier, and the story that this game has is just stunningly beautiful. I’m also glad that each game that’s been released, (or in the process of being made) you’re playing as a different character, playing differently than the other, and is in a situation much different than the previous hero/anti-hero.
Bioshock has you in the underwater city, Rapture, surviving on your own with help from a guy named Atlas. You’re Jack, a man who is currently being a servant to the phrase “Would you kindly.” Jack must survive against the Splicers, one of a few main enemies in the game, as well as the Big Daddies, somewhat of a sub-boss of the game. These guys are freakishly tough and strong, and it requires you to have some sort of a strategy to take them down. You can’t just rush into a room that has a Big Daddy in it and just shoot the living crap out of him, because most games tend to think, “Oh, this is just some random AI that I’m pitted against, all I have to do is just shoot it to kill it.” Well, the developers of Bioshock took that one step further to where you must have at least some sort of a decent strategy to take it down. These Big Daddies are tough because they’re protecting the Little Sisters. These guys are crucial to your survival in Rapture because they’re carrying the single most important item to have to live in Rapture... ADAM.
Let’s talk about ADAM and EVE here for a bit. Shall we...? What was harvested from a sea slug, their unstable stem cells are believed to be carrying a totipotent stem cell that can differentiate into any cell type. They can be genetically manipulated to produce cells that you wouldn’t find in any kind of human bodies. They’re like cancer, destroying cells and creating their own, unstable versions. They hold tremendous powers, although, what holds great power also holds great consequences. The cells that produces these powers also damages or disfigures the people both mentally and physically to the point they stop being human and act more like a higher ordered thinking zombie than can use weapons. You have to keep finding more and more ADAM just to remain sane and healthy. EVE, on the other hand, are modified versions of ADAM. You can collect what are called EVE Hypos to restore your EVE which used to utilize the special cells in your body for the powers. You see, your character has the ability to hold special powers such as an electrical bolt, flame, fire, and random of other goodies to throw out against your enemies. These cost EVE, and EVE Hypos restores your EVE bar. ADAM buys you more powers...
In the end, you’re just one major bad ass that can destroy enemies within a heartbeat if this was real.
These enemies are hunting down these Little Sisters because, as stated, are carrying ADAM. Splicers are deformed humans on Rapture who are just insane, messed up creatures who used a bit more Plasmids, which are processed ADAM... Your abilities that you gain throughout the game, as well as Rapture’s Civil War that took place. These guys murdered a LOT of the people who lived in Rapture due to their deformities because how they abused ADAM. As stated, ADAM is like a drug, and what do drugs do in the real world when they’re overused? They mess your brain up like what a frying pan does to a single egg.
This is what you have to face in Rapture when you’re Jack. Poor mind-slave Jack. Did I tell you that you’re basically a slave in the hands of a powerful being that you wouldn’t think possible? Yeah, unfortunately, who you thought was your friend, turns out to be an impersonator. Atlas isn’t Atlas, he’s Frank Fontaine, smuggling, mobster-like s.o.b. who challenged Andrew Ryan’s claim over the city... which turned into its downfall. Atlas is really dead. Fontaine has been commanding you to do this and to do that by a simple phrase of, “Would you kindly.” And by doing so, you do it. “A man chooses, a slave obeys,” another saying in Bioshock that is really important.
Andrew Ryan is an enemy, but he isn’t really your enemy, just Fontaine’s enemy. But you do kill him, and Fontaine.
That’s all I really want to spoil for Bioshock if you guys haven’t gotten a chance to play Bioshock... But I thought it would be interesting to note some big twist in the game.
The second one is even more interesting. How so? Well... Let me first begin by telling you that you get to play as a Big Daddy. Yes, you are in control of the giant s.o.b.’s that you were fighting against in the first game. You do get to destroy them again in this game, but having to be as one is just... awesome, you know?
So, you’re a Big Daddy, anything else that’s different? Well yeah! The fact that you can actually have one of the Little Sisters helping you obtain more ADAM for yourself rather than having a decision to “Rescue” or “Harvest” them when you encounter them. You have the ability to “Adopt” if you want to be good for a bit and have them scout out corpses throughout the levels for you to get more ADAM. Of course, you still have the option to “Harvest” them whether you just defeated a Big Daddy or you’re done gathering more ADAM with her. If you’re more towards the kind-hearted side, you can always “Rescue” them.
But, there’s a downside to when you’re freeing them... The Big Sisters. Now, for those who haven’t even touched Bioshock 2 yet but have played Bioshock 1, let me begin by telling you that the Big Sisters are worse than the Big Daddies. Yeah, they’re faster, they throw more at you, such as fire bombs, and they have this annoying scream that just pierces your ears. So guys, try not to play this game on full blast. They scream before you encounter them, letting you know that a fight is about to happen. Honestly, freezing them and shooting them works for me.
What is the story for this game? How can a Big Daddy have a lot happen to him to where an entire game is focused on him? Well, you had a Little Sister adopted, Eleanor. She was truly your Little Sister... But a woman name Sofia Lamb was not going to stand by for this. In fact, Eleanor is her daughter. She didn’t like the fact that you adopted her daughter. So what she did to you instead? She made you shoot yourself with that mind-control like what Jack suffered in the first game.
Your objective is to search for Eleanor... years later after this incident happened. Throughout the story, she helps you by giving you presents behind her mother’s back, mostly plasmids, and she also has a message to leave behind on why she’s doing this and hoping that you come rescue her as fast as you can. Throughout the game though, you’re going to find yourself hating Sofia Lamb more and more with what she has to say to you.
In this game, there’s something new added to the game. There’s going to be NPC’s (non-playable characters) that you will encounter, and you have the chance to either just let them be or kill them right on the spot. Of course, whatever you decide to do either has dire consequences or could help you.
Both of these games has endings that depends on your actions throughout the game. The kinder you are to the Little Sisters in the first game, you get the good ending, which means if you didn’t harvest any of them, you get a nice ending in the end. If you harvested the Little Sisters, however, you’re going to get a bad ending. In Bioshock 2, it’s the same thing, if you rescued more than you harvest, you get the good ending, if you harvested more than you rescued, you get the bad ending. You also have to not kill the NPCs too to have a good ending, or if you kill them, you’ll get the bad ending... Well, killing them will not definitely get you a bad ending just like that, it’ll progress your character’s ending towards the bad direction.
Sofia’s fate in the second game depends on your actions... Let’s just say that without really spoiling anything... As well as Eleanor’s actions... The ending effects that as well.
Last but not least, we have Bioshock Infinite that’s going to be released really, really soon. I cannot wait. This time, you’re playing as Booker DeVitt, and you have a partner name Elizabeth, who’s got incredible powers that will help you along the way. Although, keeping her around is going to leave you guys facing Songbird. You know how throughout Bioshock, you were facing a Big Daddy and in Bioshock 2, you were facing a Big Sister... both who were on ground for most of the fight? (Despite that a Big Sister can jump around like crazy) Yeah well, Songbird... flies. (It shouldn’t have been hard to notice that since “bird” is in its name) This thing is after Elizabeth. Oh, and did I forget to mention that you’re not in Rapture anymore? Instead, you’re in a sky city called Columbia. I’m not really going to spoil anything or talk more into depth about what this game is because the trailers do most of the talking for you.
Bioshock is an awesome game literally with no flaws at all. The only minor annoying thing that this game has is when you’re play it for the very first time and it has to load... That loading time takes such a long time to load, you know... But still, this game is clearly flawless and I truly recommend to anyone who enjoys thrillers, first-person shooters, and into a very detailed story to get this game. You don’t want to miss a beat with it!
>’-’<
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
"My name is BERTHA. Ready to play "
I’m a big Resident Evil fan, I enjoy the games... But... I’m kind of shocked at how the latest new game turned out to be. This game seemed really awesome, that finally, you get to play as Umbrella not as a hero... I’m a bit disappointed. I’m not going to say that this game sucks or whatever, because it doesn’t, I was just disappointed in a few aspects of the game that I really thought would have been cool.
Let’s start out with how many players can play. Whelp, it’s a single-player game, although up to eight people can join you through the Playstation Network system. What? I was really hoping that I could spend some time wasted with my boyfriend shooting zombie heads and killing the heroes just like that! Unfortunately, this game is a single-player game, despite that you can have three computer bots joining your side... This couldn’t be two-players because...?
The characters are interesting. I chose to play as BERTHA, the medic. Why I always pick the medic in games is beyond me. Anyways, the others are FOUR-EYES, LUPO, VECTOR, SPECTRE, and BELTWAY. They all have something unique about them. All work for Umbrella, all have cool voice effects that makes them sound like a cyborg.
RE:ORC’s story is also a unique one. You’re Umbrella, trying to get a sample of the T-Virus, of course, you battle the classic William Birkin and his first phase form after you’ve approached him. Then you’re off fighting against Specs, the opposing side that’s trying to help the survivors. You get abandoned after a few failed attempts in eliminating survivors, you get re-attached to Umbrella and you are to finally kill Leon Kennedy and Claire, who also has Sherry by their side.
Depending on your choice in the last mission of the game, you can either kill Leon or save Leon. Whatever your choice is, you have one partner out of the four on your side while the other two are against you. If you’re saving Leon, you have the ability to win the game very, very easily, since you have a boss on your team. All you have to do is literally wipe out the two former teammates, while avoiding zombies, and you’ve won the game with the ending showing how and why you two are surviving. It’s because Umbrella screwed you over and now you’re screwing them over.
Although, the same can not be said if you decide to kill Leon. You see, Leon apparently is a god when you’re trying to kill him. He’s got unlimited grenades and ammo. If you try to CQC him, he’ll counter back and probably, if he’s quick enough, stab you in the neck with his own CQC. He also apparently can take ten grenade launcher shots to the torso and still lives. This guy is nearly impossible to take down. I’m still in the process of doing so and I’m getting more frustrated as time is going by.
When you finally defeat him, he’s dead. Claire, who I do not like in this series, also dies too. Sherry is obviously taken into Umbrella’s hands since that is your primary objective after she comes into the story. If you’re not a Resident Evil fan, research why this child is a very important character throughout this story as well as the original RE2.
The game... it’s frustrating. For some reason Spec soldiers can take a barrage of bullets to the face and still fight back against you. That annoys me. The logic that has behind it is ridiculous because, if I was shot in the face, twenty times by an automatic, I’d probably be dead, don’t you think? The zombies aren’t that big of an issue here, the crimson heads are a little bit of an annoyance because they’re faster and they’re more likely to infect you rather than an ordinary zombie, but, they’re honestly not as annoying as Specs getting shot in the face more than I can shoot.
Some of the bosses can be a bit frustrating too. If you get hit, you take a while to recover. Such as, if you get knocked down to the ground, your character decides that this is the perfect opportunity to take our precious time to move away. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been ambushed by a group of zombies or William Birkin slamming me with his pipe. And some of the ambush side quests are also annoying. So, we’re in a room and need to find this card to escape from the building, but apparently, we’re being ambushed by Lickers. Okay, if I just stay here with my team and we eliminate them all, we can just get the card and move on, right? NO! As soon as you get that card, the room explodes, and now you have to get out of there before the building collapses while MORE Lickers comes after you. And, if you don’t reach the checkpoint, you’re stuck battling probably an infinite amount of Lickers, who somewhat can kill off your entire team if you’re not careful where they’re at.
Oh, and let me talk about the AI teammates in this game. They can either be extremely smart or extremely stupid and it happens at random times of the game. So, I’m BERTHA and I have LUPO, VECTOR, and SPECTRE on my side and whelp, we’re in a room with laser traps around me. I’ve been given a message that tells me to shoot where the laser is coming from to disarm the trap. Well, I guess my leader LUPO doesn’t understand that if you walk backwards without realizing what’s behind you, you’re going to get blasted by the trap. Oh, but we just came from a long gun fight battle against a horde of Specs in the previous room, and I don’t have a first aid spray to heal her. So, what happened to LUPO? Oh, she’s dead, and I don’t quite feel like resurrecting a dumb bot.
Apparently, your teammates cannot be permanently dead if you let them be there and move on with the mission. As soon as you reach a checkpoint, your teammates will all be with you, and apparently, all will have full health again. Although, if they changed into a zombie, you cannot resurrect them...
Overall, this game is good, but it’s completely frustrating. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best RE games, but it’s not a huge disappointment either.
>’-’< Kitty
Monday, April 2, 2012
Oh Scott Shelby...
Before you continue reading on this review, I’m going to be spoiling the entire ending of the game Heavy Rain. If you have not yet played this game but intend to, don’t read if you don’t want to know what’s what and who’s who. Otherwise, enjoy the review of one of the most depressing characters I’ve played as so far.
The story of the Origami Killer is really a tragic one. By far one of the most tragic reasons for a man to turn into a killer that I’ve ever heard. Scott Shelby, who is one of the four main characters that you get to play, and his brother John were sons of a drunken father and a mother who worked long hours. The father was drunk one day and basically yelled at the kids to “fuck off.” John and Scott begin to play in this construction area up until John gets caught in a sewer. He tells Scott to go get help. Of course his father is useless and there’s no one else around to help them out. You literally get to see John drown in the sewer. This part really almost got me to tear up, because it’s showing the death of a kid drowning... Yeah, sad.
So this literally makes Scott into a killer. He kidnaps little boys and places them in a storm drain. Their father has to undergo a series of tests to see if they can be the ones to save their son. The trials makes the fathers go through horrible and despicable things such as crawling through a tunnel of glass, drinking poison, as well as chopping off a finger. If you succeed in completing the test, you get a text message showing where the boy is being held and a few letters to the hangman puzzle of where the address is at. If you don’t complete the tasks, you don’t get anything.
The reason why Scott is making these men go through these tests is because he wants to see if the boy’s father is capable of saving his son, despite that his father couldn’t. The reason why he’s known as the Origami Killer is because the corpses of the boys are found with an origami figure and a flower. The families were also given a box of origami figures. Each figure had a clue revealing what they needed to do... well the father basically.
If Ethan, another main character who’s son is the Origami Killer’s latest victim, confronts Scott, there’s a chance that he can easily kill Scott right there and then if Norman and Madison aren’t interfering during the encounter. If Madison or Norman reaches the location of the area where Shaun is at, they have the chance to have a huge fight scene against Scott. Madison has her being chased to a top of a huge crane while Norman and Scott battle it out on a conveyor belt having the trash head towards a grinder. Of course, Madison and Norman are the remaining main characters you play as. Ethan is the father of the son who’s kidnapped, Madison is a journalist, Norman is an FBI agent and Scott is supposed to be a “detective” although he really isn’t, but he was in the past.
You can also have Madison or Norman to find Shaun without Ethan, that is if he’s either arrested or dead. Scott gets pissed off that Shaun’s father wasn’t the person who found Shaun first. He wanted Shaun’s father to come to the rescue because he wanted to find that one father that could save his son. To go through Hell just to save the kid from drowning.
Of course, there’s more tragic details I’m missing out with the entire story of Heavy Rain. But I felt that the reason why Scott Shelby turns into who he really is in the story is more depressing than Ethan chopping his finger off, Madison suffering from insomnia or how Norman can literally kill himself using drugs. I just feel that having a story where you see the killer evolved into what he’s known as is really an interesting concept for a major plot of evolving. Really.
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