Opening Thoughts:

As far as PlayStation 3 goes I’ve been having some trouble finding games that I actual find fun and exclusive. I often go for Xbox 360 games when it is multi-platform solely because most of the people I know are on the 360 and no one I know uses a PS3. But that awkward period between my PS3 and myself seemed to pass when I purchased Infamous.The game has you take control of Cole McGrath a bike messenger boy who seemed to have been given quite an explosive package to deliver. Horrible puns aside the game follows a pretty standard path of an open world video game.

Gameplay:

There are scattered missions throughout the world that you can choose to do; from escort missions to time attack across roofs. What makes the game dynamic are karma missions. There are 15 karma missions that have you take a bad side or a good side. Once the mission is done it locks the opposite mission forcing you to be entirely good or entirely bad in order to lock all of Cole’s power upgrades. There are also things you can do to further your virtuous or vice side. Reviving people who have been attacked by gangs or sucking them dry once they are incapacitated is almost seamlessly placed into the game, though after a while it sometimes feel as if you are going out of your way to do it. With the title being Infamous it can be implied that actually becoming infamous would be easy and that is essence is correct. There are far too many ways to become a bad guy while the only real way to become a Hero outside the game is reviving people. Destruction of cars. people, and simple and catastrophic idea that pops into your head will push that little meter down a wee bit more each time. Though with that being said, some of the neutral things you do advance your good karma once it has hit a certain point. Cleaning up the city of Empire City aside the obligatory missions move the story along. Exploration of the world is good if not lacking in a few departments. You have your collectibles in blast shards and dead drops but the feeling of collecting all the blast shards seems a bit over whelming and more time consuming than its worth. Dead Drops are satellites that are easily located with a radar like sensor on the map that points out the nearest one, though obtaining them makes for a little challenge here and there. There are some powers that making getting around Empire City much less of a hassle and feels more fun than a chore, which in the beginning of the game felt like it would drag on forever.

Story:

Now to be honest it was difficult for me to invest into the story at first. I was given my standard gruff voiced protagonist who had choices to make. It wasn’t until around the second half of the game does it truly get good and it is definitely worth the wait. The ending of the game is a clear view for a sequel. Cole delivered the bomb that gave him super powers, now everyone wants said bomb to potentially give everyone else powers. It is a used plot but it fits well into this game because it is shown in a new way so it feels fresh. Cole is a one man army bent on getting everyone he cares for out of the hell city while helping or harming those he come across. With such crucial decisions it can make one feel like they truly have control over the fate of the city.

Combat:

The combat (in all its super powered lightning glory) is a little bit in the lacking department. You have you standard lightning strike but then you advance those moves as the story progresses with lightning bombs and lightning sniping. The melee combat was almost never used and some of the good side powers were simply either too boring to use or simply too destructive to use due to the collateral damage it caused, once again pushing your karma further down. Being Infamous though causes a wide variety of destructive abilities to be at the players finger tips, though as the game goes on enemies don’t know when to stay down and on harder difficulties it can mean death to not clean up that one enemy who should, by all means of logic, be snuffed out. Boss battles are few, I think I recall fighting one or two bosses that didn’t become a standard enemy.

Characters:

Incidentally there are very few characters that are in this game. Trish, the disgruntled girlfriend who seems to be a real pain in the arse at every turn simply because the explosion that gave you your powers killed her sister, QQ. Zeke, who in my opinion is one of the best characters in the game, is the best friend and conspiracy theorist. Moya, your employer who promises safe exit out of the quarantined Empire City for finding her husband John. The bad guys are few as well, with Kessler being the main antagonist, gangs, and a former employee of Kessler named Sasha.

Overall:

Overall this game is a good pick up even if you aren’t a fan of the open world. If you don’t mind a few bugs here and an unusually medium sized world to explore than this game is something that could be fun. Feeling like Cole is fantastic and charring your enemies even if sometimes it can become a little excessive lets you fulfill the lightning powered dreams you’ve always had.
Gameplay: 8.5
Story: 8
Presentation: 9
Replay Value: 10
Overall: 9

Witch Hunter Robin

Genre: Mystery, Action

Story (8/10): Witch Hunter Robin is a 1 season, 26 episode run created by Sunrise. The narrative is an interesting and refreshing mix of CSI and Men in Black (but with witches in place of aliens). STN-J, the Japan division of a worldwide secret organization, Solomon, which is dedicated to the investigation and hunting of criminal witches. The organization receives its newest member to its small task force. Robin, a young Craft (witch powers, specifically she uses fire) user, assists in catching many dangerous witches with varieties of powers. An encounter with a mysterious old witch soon reveals a dangerous power and many secrets about Robin and the past history of witches. Meanwhile, two mysterious organizations, Factory and Solomon, are soon discovered competing in the war on witches.

The first several episodes are not much more than simple action and mystery versions of CSI, with a kind of “criminal witch of the day” feel. Yet as the story progresses, it grows into a much involved and powerful plot. Overall the story is good, but the series starts to suffer. The middle seems somewhat drawn out. The ending, in my opinion, was also not as dramatic and fantastic as I had hoped.

Characters (5/10): The characters are also not very memorable. The team at STN-J consists of a simple assortment. There is a hot-shot kid, Haruto, a young spoiled but maturing girl, Yurika, a women with a special Craft power, Miho, and Michael, a computer hacker that acts as their main source of information. Even the two main characters, Amon and Robin, don’t quite stack up. Amon is a mysterious, quiet, but strong guy with some secrets that proves an asset to the team. Robin is also pretty quiet and mysterious with some interesting secrets of her own.

I suppose that’s why I can’t warm up to these characters. They say too little of what is on their mind. There is a lack of feeling that an audience needs to really connect with the characters. They do, however, have certain shining moments in a few episodes, including the last couple, which still saves them somewhat.

Visuals (8/10): The visuals of this show, while impressive in certain respects, were not outstanding. I found it cool to watch Robin use her special fire Craft, as well as other witches use their own unique powers. The mood is mostly dark throughout the series with overall little use of color. This may have caused the artwork to suffer a bit.

Audio (6/10): The audio was decent but slightly disappointing. Voices were ok but not very memorable. The music, while setting the mood for the story, became monotonous. But that might just be to match the characters. Yet there are some cool effects, however, when the crafts are used as well as some gunfire from the team’s special Orbo ammunition.

Overall (7/10): This show was fun to watch but overall forgetful. I still rate it a decent 7 for its originality from other anime I have seen. It felt more like a real life TV show rather than an anime. But perhaps this is why I didn’t score it as highly in certain areas. Good, but not great. I still recommend it as a decent watch though.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Genre: Action, Drama

(Image from: nyannyan.animeblogger.net/?p=573)

Story (10/10): Code Geass is an incredible 2-season series with a complicated yet intense storyline. Try and follow along. The conquering world empire of Britannia has subdued Japan with large mech units called Nightmares, although small groups of rebels still try to carry out terrorism against the empire. Britannian citizens within Japan (now called Area 11) outcast and oppress former Japanese citizens.

The main character, Lelouch Lamperge, is an exiled prince of the Empire who has pledged revenge against Britannia and his father, the emperor, after witnessing his mother being brutally assassinated. Along with his blind and weak sister, Nanali, they attend a prestigious academy within Area 11. Yet one day, Lelouch suddenly becomes in a rebel terrorist plot. There he meets a strange girl, C.C., that will change Lelouch’s life forever. He grants him a power that will allow him to destroy the empire – Geass. This power grants him the ability to force someone to obey his command, but only once. With this new power, Lelouch becomes the hero of the rebellion, Zero, and begins his campaign to destroy Britannia. (Indeed its complicated.)

The plot is extremely deep and branches out through many characters. There is everything from high school drama, romance, betrayal, secrets, death, as well as tons of military, political, and strategic action. Imagine something along the lines of Gundam and Rumbling Hearts. It is a beautiful story with one of the most epic endings (it made me tear up).

Characters (10/10): Each character is played out very well and with great detail. Lelouch, especially, is an extremely deep character on par with many Shakespearean characters in his complexity. He is a mastermind with a strong will, but who still has much of the feelings of a young high school student. Yet he desperately tries to hide his torn feelings behind the mask of Zero. There are many complicated ties between characters that add even more depth to the story. For example, while Lelouch becomes the rebel, Zero, his best friend, Suzaku, joins the military and eventually a knight of the emperor that seeks to kill Zero and end the rebellion. The characters are what help make the story so amazing.

Visuals (9/10): The animation for the characters and environments are all very artistic and eye-popping. And you’ll drool over the awesome, ridiculously powered Nightmares that are seen fighting each other. There are plenty of intense battle scenes. Even the animation of Lelouch using his Geass has remarkable graphics.

Audio (8/10): The character voices are all pretty well selected and tend to match each character’s personality pretty well. Usual everyday sounds up to the explosions and powers of the Nightmares are pretty cool as well. The music is also enjoyable and dramatic when it needs to be. The overll audio is not outstanding in any way though from other anime of this genre.

Overall (9.5/10): This series is one of the best I have ever seen. Everything from the epic story to the unforgettable characters makes it a must-see. If ever you get the chance, watch it.

Anheuser-Busch has taken another bold move in creating American Ale. This new beautiful red amber ale brings alot hype and talk to Budweiser’s line of beers. Budweiser has made there name prodominately with their line of lagers. But enough about that, let’s dive into ale.

This beer brings the whole package. Nice interesting smell from the minute you pop that cap off, and a beautiful bold head when you pour yourself a glass on tap. It’s got great character and a tasty malty flavor with a kick of hopps.  Here is my breakdown that I typically do with beers

Taste= 7/10

Smell=9/10

Head=8/10

Finally, I’ll add whether this beer makes for a rager or a kick back.

A  rager,being a beer that your ready to chug and lookin to get shit faced. Kick back beer would be one to watch the game with or have with a ballin slice of hawaiin pizza. Budweiser’s American Ale definitely makes a great kick back beer. Though it wouldn’t be too bad to serve at a party, i wouldnt recommend it.

Hope you liked this review, feel free to request any.

-Drew, your college beer drinkin guru

The new Safari 4 looks amazing. They fused together Google Chrome and Firefox. They have brought the simplistic beauty of cover flow into the internet browser. Your history and bookmarks are put into coverflow.

They added a page called topsites. It is your 12 favorite sites and it is displayed similar to Chrome except it is parabolic. Safari will automaticly detect your favorite sites.

You can download the beta here

This would be our first ever, substance filler video post, a quick summation last few days, and what is to come. Took me hoooours to figure out the easy way to do this, and where and blah blah blah, if any of you have seen my facebook, you can see I am unhappy with flash videos. (Notice the time of this post)

Fable II (RPG)

Genre: RPG, Adventure

After over 4 years of painful and fidgety waiting, the sequel to the highly popular Fable has arrived. Developed by Lionhead Studios, this action RPG game sports much of the same features as the first, along with some of its own original content.

(Image from: thatvideogameblog.com)

Story: (5/10) As a nameless hero, you are destined to rise as a Hero and save the world of Albion. The storyline takes place about a thousand years after the original Fable. You can choose between a boy or girl to start off (a great new addition) in order to embark on your quest. The main storyline is nothing special. A king wants to wipe out the world and start a new one. You have to stop him (yawn). The story is awfully short. If you run at top speed through it, you can walk away in about 3 hours. But the fun comes from the multitude of side quests available throughout the game. These help make the game worthwhile, and easily multiply the playing time. You can get lost exploring the game’s vast free-roaming world, from the coast to caves, tombs and forests, which is 10x the size of the first Fable.

Graphics: (8/10) The graphics are similar to the original to the first Fable in art design but with the power and scope of the 360. Your character and the environment is pretty detailed.

Audio: (8/10)The music is similar to the first Fable in its old world style. The game sounds are fairly good. Yet the true glory comes the game’s infinite amount of verbal audio from the NPCs. All dialogue is spoken and is hilarious to hear their British accents.

Gameplay: (8/10) Those who have played the original Fable should be fairly familiar with the controls. The basic action buttons are easy and fun. A is action, X is to use your melee weapon (great for button mashing), Y is to use your ranged weapon (either crossbows or guns – a great addition to the game), B is to use magic. The new magic system no longer has a mana bar, as so many other games feature. Fable II has a 5 tier system of magic attacks. Simply charge the magic attack you wish to use by holding B and release. You can use any magic as often as you wish as long as you have the time against bands of enemies. The fighting is rewarding, and makes up much of the fun in the game. The camera is also completely controllable.

On the flipside, the game feels a little unpolished. There is a small issue with loading times. There are also certain aspects of the game (at least for my game) that feel really slow and laggy. Often when you perform an action like, say, try to open a door or explore the start menu, it often takes a couples seconds to work. Its kinda like working on a crappy computer.

Overall: (7/10)The game behaves mostly like a light RPG, though not quite as in depth as some like ES: Oblivion. Despite this and small polishing issues, this is an entertaining and overall amazing game.

Replay ability: (9/10) Probably the greatest feature to Fable is its ability of choice. You can mutate into a red devil-like monster through being evil or a halo-crowned shining saint through good deeds. You can be whomever you wish. So, the question is, “Who will you become?”

(Image from: ultimategamerspodcast.co.uk)

The February issue of Japanese trade magazine Kinejun announces a big screen anime version of Namco’s RPG Tales of Vesperia.

The movie version is slated to be released this year by Kadokawa Pictures. Director Kanta Kamei is helming the anime, and seiyu Kosuke Toriumi will be lending his voice to the project.

Source

Scions of Fate Game Review, by Grapes!
A very unique game. =3

Bare with me I havent done this in awhile. =o
Netgames was the company that made that horrifingly painfull and obnocious game GhostOnline.
But this other game they made I also wanted to try out for awhile. It was in closed beta when I found out about it so I had to wait a month or two for it to release officialy.
This game is much better than GhostOnline. You can tell by Netgames style that they like Futal or Ancient China themed games. This is not necessarely my style per-say. =o
Anyways I still wanted to try it becuase it felt like an ADVENTURE! =D
It didnt take so long downloading and installing considering Ragnarok Online or FlyFF. >__>
What I first incontered was a very unique atmosphire. It has a FlyFF like taste to it. The character designs are almost that of DragonQuest or DragonBallZ but cuter. =o
Well immediatly I got used to the game very quickly, and im shure if anybody tried this game without having any MMORPG experience they would get used to it easily too. =3
I love alot of features they add onto this game. Alot of features I wish were on some other games. They say that this game is a comic rpg like the sense of style the characters have. The emotions are accual facial expressions on your character with a nice voice to go with it.

PROS:
1. Great graphics! Which can be adjusted at the options menu. With diffrent color and brightness.
2. Windowed mode is always convenient for me. =3
3. Not alot of lag but I upgraded my memory resently so I dont know if anyone else might feel some lag.
4. Fluent motion. This is very important when your training. The animation is not chopy its smooth and the characters attack with lifelike motion.
5. You can change your characters voice. Like say you get hurt you say “OW” or if you level up you say “SOMETHING IN CHINESE”.
6. Diffrent stats for diffrent classes! This was a cool idea. Insted of ATK AGI DEX STA INT, each class has there own special stat. Like say if you were a bowman you would get stats that increase your attack range or critical hits ect.
7. THIS IS THE BEST FREGGIN THING EVER! They have their own personalizable music player on the game!! Where you can go into your folders and upload your own songs off your computer and into the game and play them as background music!!!!!!! I love it!! <3>:0

Grapes Score is… 9.0/10!!!

RagnarokOnline~ Game Review! By Grapes,

People make such a big fus about this game. Its quite popular. Well, I wanted to play it for some time, but couldnt becuase… well its a paying game. (12 dollars a month).
And that doesnt seem fair for just a sprite based game. =/
So I was like “screw that!” D<
But then they came out with a 7day trial thing. I tried it over and over again. It was pretty fun.
Well now I realized that someone had made a free private server of RO.
It takes like 2hours to download. And my eletricity went out when I was downloading it. So I had to download it twice. D<
Anyways. A game like this is the kind of game you would die for if it was on GBA or DS. It is very enjoyable. Gravity (the company that made RO) did a good job with every little detail. The maps are large, the music and sound effects are so crystal clear and nice to lisen to. =3
I put it in 800×486 windowed mode. =O

Pros:
1. Its accualy fun to train.
2. Lots of background music and sound effects.
3. Lots of classes to choose from.
4. Alot of nice people online. (people have given me things for free. x3)
5. Marrage system. that was neet. =P
6. Although the characters and monsters are sprite based they are very well done sprites. They almost look like characters in an anime. =3
7. Easy stat system!
8. Easy skill system!

Cons:
1. Its easy to get lost. Dx
2. Doesnt show the level or dificulty of any monsters. So you dont know which ones are your level. (you would have to check on the official site to find out)
3. They throw you in the game without telling you anything or where to go. (I dont like to ask for directions D: )
4. Can only move the camera angle right and left. The angle still looks weird to me. I might just have to get used to it but I like to move the camera angle up and down sometimes.

Total Score… 8.7/10 Now I know what all the fus is about. =3