Batman: Arkham City Review (XBox 360)

Intro
Arkham City, it's a dreary and dark place to say the least, where the forecast is always a steady snow. But honestly Batman couldn't have dreamt up a better playground, where every major crime boss has staked out their own respective hideouts throughout the city. Sounds to me like a perfect game of hide and seek.

Game Overview
This single player 3-D compatible game is played from a third person perspective as one of two characters, Batman or Catwoman (assuming you entered the ~25 character code needed to unlock her). From the game menu there are two playable game modes, story mode (campaign) and custom challenges. After story mode is completed on normal or hard difficulty, a hardcore mode known as 'story mode plus' is unlocked. Arkham City features a multitude of optional side quests that are completely separate from the game’s main plot which is told through the main quest line. This allows players the ability to play through their own unique experience as Batman and Catwoman, in a less linear and more 'open world' story than is typical in this story-based type of game.  It is able to ensure that the main plot is still told without it being the only choice that the player has. You get to play through the story at the pace and in the way that you decide. In her debut as a separate playable toon, Catwoman makes her mark on Arkham City, with a story of her own that manages to neatly intertwine itself into that of the infamous Bruce Wayne.

Gameplay - Throughout the game's story mode, your role switches back and forth between each character's story. Each pursuing their own agenda (by way of the main quest line), they have no trouble running into the plenty of villains. Leaving them no choice but to beat them up, and in turn, level up. Unlike most in most games, levels are not kept track of in Arkham City. Once you have the required amount of experience (6500 to be exact), you can 'level up' by selecting a new upgrade. These upgrades are acquired from what's known as WayneTech, which is divided into the five categories: batsuit, gadgets, combat, predator and catwoman. Upgrades vary from increases in passive armor to entirely new abilities. A plethora of gadgets including the batarang (manual and remote control verions), batclaw, explosive gel, cryptographic sequencer, smoke pellet, remote electrical charge, line launcher and freeze blast help add versatility and fun to your arsenal; many of which are required at certain points throughout the game to open locked gates, dispatch powerful enemies, and reach what otherwise would have been undiscoverable locations. Some of these undiscoverable locations within Arkham City house Riddler trophies. Many are hidden while others sit in plain sight; each one, when obtained, grants 200 experience in addition to unlocking one piece of hidden content (challenge maps, concept art, etc). Obtaining many of these trophies requires both problem and puzzle solving skills. It is in no way a requirement to be able to defeat the game, but it provides optional brain-teasers and other challenges. In terms of additional content (other than story mode and its more difficult relative, story mode plus), the custom challenge maps offer a refreshing change of pace.

A look at the WayneTech upgrade tab

Challenge Maps
Challenge maps are completely separate from the game's story mode. They provide a way to test your skills in an instanced environment. There are two primary types of challenge maps: combat and predator. Both have a different 3 medal reward system, which I'll explain in their respective descriptions below.

Combat Maps - As the player of your choice, you take on 4 separate waves of enemies, with a break in between. Each successive wave increases the number of enemies and consequently, the difficulty level. In each round your performance is scored, based on how cleanly you dispatched of your opponents. Bonus points are awarded in a round for not taking any damage (perfect round bonus), defeating all the enemies in one flawless string of attacks (flawless freeflow bonus) and just like in story mode, the longer the combo, the bigger the point bonus. Medals are attained in combat maps after reaching a specified point total for the map.

Predator Maps - In a Predator map you're given three tasks to complete, each task completed counts as a completed medal challenge. The challenge itself is timed, so the faster you can complete all three tasks successfully, the more points you're awarded and the higher your score.

Campaign Challenges are another option. They are a combination of 3 total challenge maps where either 2  are combat type maps and 1 is a predator type or vice versa. Before you begin the challenges you are allowed to select up to 3 modifiers, some that will make the challenge more difficult and others that will provide some sort of benefit.
 
Combat
The game's combat system is relatively simple and beginner friendly. The three main attacks at your disposal are strike (X-button), counter (Y-button), and cape stun (B-button). An additional attack that can be performed while out of combat is the predator style silent takedown ability (Y-button while hidden from the target). Successful combat encounters are the game's primary source of experience. The amount of experience that is awarded from each encounter is affected by a number of factors, not including obvious reasons such as the level of difficulty (i.e. a 'boss' level opponent such as Mr. Freeze will give much more experience than defeating a few of his henchmen would) or the number of enemies involved in an encounter. The greater the combination (number of consecutively landed blows on opponents without being hit) the greater the amount of bonus experience that is awarded when combat has ended. This rewards players for the level of skill demonstrated in each particular encounter. Other combat bonuses include the intimidation bonus, awarded upon a successful enemy takedown, and the variation bonus which rewards the use of varying kill tactics rather than deploying the same strategies over and over again.

Catwoman (Differences)
Her gadget collection includes bolas, caltrops and the whip; all of which are things I'd like to think a ninja cowgirl might carry around with her, if there were such a thing. Catwoman's thief vision is a downgraded version of Batman's detective mode. Allowing the player to use x-ray vision and make other useful observations, such as identifying whether an enemy is armed or unarmed, discovering hidden clues and showing interactive objects. Although gliding isn't an option she is able to 'leap' a fair distance and instead of grappling with a gun, she makes use of her whip and cat-like climbing abilities to scale buildings and other large structures.

Tips
- Avoid getting caught in the middle of large groups of enemies, or you risk being blindsided from behind
- Make use of your gadgets if you're ever having trouble defeating an encounter
- Use the batclaw to reel in hard-to-reach Riddler trophies
- Use gargoyles and other specifically placed ledges to plan your attack before jumping into a room full of inmates

Pros
- AC is an open world, as a player you're not forced to follow any specific path through the game.
- Riddler trophies provide additional challenge and content.
- Challenge maps are a fun way to test your skills for fun or against friends.
- It's 3-D compatible, which is more than most console games can claim. Sadly, I lacked the proper hardware to test it out myself.

Cons
- You have no access to any type of last resort skill or ability (one time self-healing or 'super' attack)
- In story mode there's no manual save option, instead the game saves at checkpoints

Other Thoughts/Suggestions
- Downloadable content for Arkham City is available through XBox Live. Two more playable characters, Robin and Nightwing, can be purchased for 560 microsoft points (~$7). The catch is that they are only playable on challenge maps and lack their respective playable stories. The character bundles also include 2 new challenge maps.
- When using Batman's grappling gun you will sometimes be pulled through objects (metal beams, railings, signs etc)  that are between you and the point you're grappling to.

Bugs
- There was one instance where I attempted to continue story mode from the main menu and it loaded to a gray screen which forced me to restart my XBox, this only occurred on one occasion though.
- Other than that one instance though, Batman: Arkham City was refreshingly bug-free for the duration of my stay

Score - 87
Arkham City is a cohesive beauty that is sure to please both Batman lovers and gamers alike, particularly those who thrive on its 'big brawl' type combat.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC) Review

Intro
I dismounted from my horse and left him by the path to scout ahead. After a short while I spotted someone in the distance, not sure whether they were a friend or foe I quickly saved the game before approaching them. That someone turned out to be an old orc who, to my surprise, had no interest in me. Instead he was only concerned with one thing, receiving a proper death. Being the selfless soul that I am, I told him that I would attempt to provide him with that which he so deeply desired, and our duel ensued. I opted to use my frost enchanted axe and my iron banded shield to compliment. My strategy was to make sure to block as many of his attacks as I could while countering whenever I saw an opening and I stuck to it. While the orc put up a respectable effort, in the end his old age had caught up to him and I emerged victorious. I healed my injuries after equipping my healing spell to both hands and left my defeated adversary to be buried by the bilzzard as I retrieved my faithful steed.

Game Overview

After each level you're given the choice of increasing
any of the 3 main stats

Skyrim (sky-rim) is the fifth chapter in the well known Elder Scrolls series. In Skyrim, you have 10 different races to choose from when creating your character, all of which have a unique ability (an actual skill that can be used once daily) and bonus traits (for example: +10 to beginning archery skill, 50% bonus resistance etc, you can check out the full list for each race here). After choosing a race, your 'class' is what you make of it, over the next 69 levels you can became as specialized in one area as possible (for instance, if you know you want to solely focus on being a magic user, or the case of Skyrim, a 'magicka' user, you can spend the majority of your stat upgrades each level on increasing your magicka pool and your skill upgrades on the different magic school trees) OR you can take the Jack of all trades approach (which will likely be the case no matter what as you reach the higher levels).

Main stats - Health (red bar) is health, you know the deal when you run out of it you die. Magicka (blue bar) is used for spells whether it's for shooting fireballs, healing yourself or allies, or for reanimating the dead. Your magicka pool and its regeneration rate can be significantly increased by the use of cloth armor. However, it provides minimal protection from physical attacks. Stamina (green bar) is used when you sprint, use a power attack (holding down the mouse button with a melee weapon equipped) or bash (holding down the mouse button with a shield equipped). The amount of weight that your character can carry depends on your stamina. If you're carrying more than your limit then your character moves very slowly and you are unable to fast travel.

Perhaps the most important part of the game, leveling, is also the most different aspect you will come across in Skyrim. Unlike in your typical rpg, simply slaying wild boars and completing quests in Skyrim does not grant 'experience'. Instead you level up by increasing any of your 18 skills (archery, 2-handed weapons, heavy armor, restoration, etc.), through specific use of that skill. For example, absorbing an enemy's blows while you're wearing heavy armor has a chance to increase your heavy armor skill and of course, your level. Another way to increase one's skills is through literature...

Who would've thought you could learn something from
reading??

Tips

Word Wall's are often accompanied by some sort of
guardian

- When stealing or pick pocketing just looking at the contents of a container or a person's inventory is perfectly legal. Just don't get caught if you see something you can't resist
 - Reading books is by far the easiest way to increase   your character's skills, they can also give quests
- After you kill a dragon whose location shows up on your map be sure to visit their Word Wall to learn another word in dragon language
- Remember to use your shouts, sometimes it's easy to forget you have them. They can be used frequently and can easily be the difference between life and death
- Pressing ' r ' while you have an arrow nocked or are channeling a fireball allows you to reset without losing your arrow or magicka. It also sheaths or readies your weapon
- I should have learned to watch out for traps from playing Fallout 3. In Skyrim there are a lot more than just bear traps so be sure to keep an eye out whenever you're in a cave or dungeon. That is, until you have the light foot perk. Then all you need to worry about are the bear traps...

Pros

- I'll get the easiest one out of the way... Dragons, dragons, dragons.. they didn't disappoint

- Enthralling and creative quests kept me wanting more
- The favorites list, which allows you to quickly switch between different weapons, abilities or apparel with the QuickKeys (#s 1-8) that you assign to them. Anything that isn't assigned by keys 1 through 8 can be easily equipped with a click of the mouse
- Soundtrack is awesome, as if killing a dragon by itself wasn't enough... just wait until you do it to the sounds coming out of your headphones/speakers
- General stats tab in your journal keeps track of just about every statistic you can think of
- After exploring the endless drought stricken wasteland in Fallout 3, Skyrim was truly a sight for sore eyes. The world is incredibly diverse and the environmental graphics are excellent.
- There is SO much to do. No matter what you might want to do, explore, quest, craft, talk to people? it doesn't matter, the possibilities are endless

Dynamic terrain ... quite a skid mark

Cons
- Bugs (See bugs section below)
- No minimap
- Spectators sometimes get in the way during brawls (see other thoughts/suggestions)

Other Thoughts/Suggestions
- As previously suggested, a minimap of some kind would be a real time saver. The world is so enormous and when you're always exploring it becomes a hassle to have to open and close the full-screen map over and over
- Fast Travel, lockpicking and the slow motion kill camera view are all copy and pastes out of Fallout 3. I also think Bethesda made a good choice in doing so
- Many disputes in Skyrim are resolved through a brawl (fist-fight) with the opposition. Which is fine by me, I love a friendly boxing match every now and again. The problem I have is with the spectators that inevitably gather round for these events. Some of which have run right between me and my opponent and taken an inadvertent jab to the face from me. I'm not sure why this happens but when it does it usually ends with me dead or in jail  : (
- Bethesda must have been listening when I asked for another form of transportation in Fallout 3 (other than walking or using fast travel) because now I can ride my horse instead

I definitely did NOT fall off the mountain after taking
this picture.. 

Bugs
- It definitely didn't bother me but I don't think this was intended...

Floating cart

..And now it's on fire

- There was one instance where I dismounted from my horse on a bridge I fell off the side to my death. Now I'll admit it wasn't the widest bridge but if I'd known my character lacked the survival instinct I would've stayed on the horse...
- Mob pathing can get a little funny at times, but with a game this large I can't really fault anyone. As long as you don't mind the rare cases of an AI getting stuck momentarily on environmental objects (rocks, steep inclines, etc.), taking what may seem like the longest path possible to reach you or sometimes just wandering around aimlessly then it shouldn't be a problem
- It was both confusing and annoying  at times to have my arrows blocked by an 'invisible' barrier an inch or two from an actual 'visible' one. Check out the picture to see what I mean.

Score - 94
Bethesda delivers, with a new, stunning world that is overflowing with possibilities. Skyrim is without a doubt the best game I've played all year.

Fallout: New Vegas Review

Intro
Oh boy, where to begin... Unlike most things having to do with Vegas, you won't need to worry about betting on Fallout:NV. That's because you'll know what you're getting, after all, it's been a year since it was released in October of 2010 and it will now only cost you $20. However, if you do happen to have an extra $40 on you, I'd recommend sticking with the new stuff. Like I mentioned one of my previous posts, Coming Up..., this review was mostly written with the purpose of getting another game of a different genre under my belt.

Game Overview
You, my friend, are none other than 'the courier'. After crossing paths with the wrong mobsters your character was shot, buried, dug up by a robot and then patched up good as new by the local town doctor.

After you pick your character's looks, attributes and special skills you are free to do whatever your heart desires. No really, I mean it, if you want to try to take over the town that just saved your life the only thing to lose is, well, your life that they just saved. While your primary objective is to track down the friendly folks that tried to murder you, New Vegas offers a vast wasteland crawling with bandits, giant scoripions and the undead, all of whom are begging for both discovery and some rain.

And here's where I spent most of my time as a child

As is often the case with huge and open action RPGs, there are so many possible paths to take that no one will have the exact same experience on their way from point A to point B.

There's nothing like some good old fashioned art to
brighten up the workplace

Something to keep in mind: The game's level cap is 30 and with all the downloadable content that cap can be raised to 50.

Tips
- Get into the habit of saving the game frequently, if something goes wrong (which it will) it becomes a very handy time-saver

No worries, we're just both on fire

- You might have a valid point if you're thinking this should be considered common sense but hey... you don't know until you give it a try. Turns out it's in your best interest to refrain from using a flamethrower in a small enclosed space
- Pick up all the quests you can, even if you don't think you'll do them. They're the quickest and easiest ways to level up and increase your rep with the locals

Pros
- Attaining attribute points and special perks (of which there are a ton, 82, to be exact) after each level allows you to mold your character into some as specialized or as well-rounded as you desire

Using V.A.T.S.

- The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) allows you to simply pause the game, pick the parts on your target you want to aim for and watch as it carries out your combat instructions from a 3rd person camera view in slow motion

Cons
- Your only mode of transportation in this enormous desert hundreds of years in the future, are your legs (now I can see where it would take away from the experience if I were able to ride around in my hover car at 100 mph, but my point is, the walking definitely gets old)
- Bugs, the Mojave is unfortunately not a glitch/bug-free environment
- Neither is it a diverse environment, it's pretty much just the same overly expansive desert

Other Thoughts/Suggestions

- Would've loved to have been able to drive one of the many vehicles that I saw during my travels (on foot)
- I love having the freedom to be the bad guy or the good guy or the 'whoever-my-choices-make-me' guy, although I almost always end up being the good guy; the fact that I can save the game and then kill the shopkeeper that just ripped me off and go back to my save point like nothing happened just gives me that little bit of satisfaction and almost makes up for the fact that he took all my money
- The game itself is over a year old, and I have yet to play the additional content that has been released since then

Bugs
- The Mojave Wasteland is full of them, in fact the very first things I killed in the game were giant praying mantises that had 'taken over' the town's schoolhouse...
- On a serious note though, New Vegas does contain a few bugs that may require reloading your game from previous save to fix... For instance, these gang members that I needed to kill for a quest bugged out to where they weren't able to be killed, but they also didn't attack me either, they just stood there absorbing Ringo's bullets:

My buddy Ringo on the left still thinks they're fair game,
after assessing the situation for a few minutes it
was clear that he'll run out of ammo

- Some less serious, but equally entertaining issues

Beware: Angry Floating Dog (AFD?)

Something tells me she needs to get her eyes checked

Score - 70
I can't help but appreciate all of the content that this game has to offer, including that which I wasn't able to experience firsthand. That being said though, it's mostly non-issue glitches and dry gameplay make it a relatively easy call as a second to most of the latest releases.

*Note: I have yet to play this game even close to 'all the way'* through, but my priority now has to turn to the latest releases
*I honestly don't even know what all the way through means with Fallout:NV

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine PC Review

I have seen the future... and it is glorious. That is, if you're captain Titus of the elite squad known as the Ultramarines, as for anyone else, well I can only be certain that they won't have nearly as much fun.

Game Overview

You begin your campaign on an 'ork' flying craft, from there you are immediately thrown into battle against their swarming defenses. You don't panic though, because you're the mighty lord, Captain Titus, who has seen and dealt with far worse. After following the on screen 'suggested' attacks (or not) and slaying 100 enemies you will have unlocked your first achievement in Space Marine. Wielding a firearm in one hand (with a total of 4 at any one time to switch from) and your melee weapon in the other, you are the ideal killing machine or in this case upholder of justice.

I couldn't get enough of the close combat and watching my chainsword slice through a wave of enemies as I put together combos and appropriately finished any lone survivors off with a slow-motion execution move. That includes the animations, which are so smooth and engaging as the orks are practically falling on my blade.

Just when I thought I might be getting a little bored with my chainsword I was upgraded to a lightning infused axe, appropriately termed the power axe. That meant new combos and new awesome combat animations. Truthfully it wouldn't have mattered though, I'm not too picky when I'm given a new sharp glowing weapon. 

Did I mention you're given a jet pack on a few special occasions throughout your quest to recapture the forge world, and that its use in smashing your enemies from above is very satisfying? In Space Marine, jet pack is called a 'jump pack' and jump pack = Fun! So much so that when my man Titus would say, "Out of fuel" and drop it into oblivion I found myself fighting off the onset of what was most likely a serious case of depression.

And finally, quite a bit later in the game, we are introduced to the almighty thunderhammer, which is so thunderously huge and epic, that you are only allowed the use of your 2 basic guns while wielding it. That's more than okay though, because let's be honest, it's a freaking thunderhammer...

I was going to show another one of my totally lam..err I mean totally awesome!.. videos but I came across this one that seemed slightly more informative.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not usually one to follow the story of a game, let alone actually be interested in it. That being said, I should congratulate Relic Entertainment because it kept my attention for a good part of Space Marine's story. A difficult feat for a game that also had such entertaining gameplay awaiting me after almost every cut scene.

PvP
After the campaign (besides repeating on a higher difficulty level) there is still the option to PvP in the online multiplayer which although is nothing particularly special, with the typical objectives (capture this, defend that), your typical leveling system, perks etc. Regardless, it provides a reason to continue playing and for some it may be enough to purchase the game if you're the online multiplayer type. One thing I did like about the PvP though, being the noob that I am, was the option to copy your killer's loadout after each death. It's a simple way to help balance the playing field and balanced PvP makes me happy.

Tips

I don't think that tin can on his head is laser proof

- Grenades are your friend, don't be afraid to use them generously
- When facing a Nob (elite ork) or other higher ranking enemies, be sure to furiously spam your left mouse button when trying to execute them, or they will counter your execute
- Your aiming sights will turn yellow when you have an enemy or an explosive in them (basically anything that your bullets will affect), knowing this can come in handy
- Tap the left shift key to sprint/charge at your enemies and right click when you're in range to knock them down

Pros

- Exciting array of powerful weapons at your disposal, including my favorites, the jump pack and thunderhammer

- Mission content is varied and creative
- The world, especially in jump pack usable areas, is huge and impressive
- Relic Entertainment tells an engrossing story of bloodshed, betrayal and brotherhood
- Awesome execute animations
- The game itself was just a heck of a lot of fun


Cons
- Slow executes don't slow the enemies around which leaves you vulnerable to attack. And being your only reliable source for health gain, you're likely already in some trouble.

- On rare occasions mobs would bug out and get stuck, usually around the boundaries of the world

Other Thoughts/Suggestions
- Not sure you're ready to buy the full game?? No problem, download the free demo here and give it a go yourself
- I played the entire game on normal difficulty and a fair amount of PvP and not once did I encounter any type of crash or other problem that kept me from enjoying my purchase

- There were some gaps between enemies that were just too long. I would run through room after room and get impatient waiting for my next ork filled room to slaughter
- Now, if I'm going to be completely honest here, there are way too many elevators in the future. No really, that's a legitimate complaint. It went something like this,
"Let's get out of here, quick get on that lift!"
"There's only one way we're getting out of this, and that's down the lift over there."

Oh thank the Warhammer gods

Is it a problem? Of course not, I just could have used a bit more variety was all. 

Bugs

- There weren't too many and none that I came across were anything to worry about

- Mostly just npc's getting stuck or in this case not being able to reach or detect me, which is always fun:

Score - 84
Space Marine had me from the beginning with its honourable hero and his awesome accent, from there I was engulfed in its superb combat animations, addictive gameplay and fresh level design. The only thing holding it back for me, was the lack of content for those not so fond of PvP.

Darkspore: Online Dungeon Crawl

Intro
If you bought or eventually end up buying a digital copy of the game online like I did, be sure to check out the online manual here. Personally, it helped me pick up some cool hero-editing tricks. Also be sure to refer to my screenshots if you haven't already.


Game Overview
Darkspore can be a bit confusing/overwhelming to a new player. For instance, at first you're rewarded for opening every obelisk you see. But when it comes to the 'boss area', if you open the obelisks they only contain health and power capsules and will count against you when calculating your medal results after the mission. There is a distinct difference between these obelisks though, the regular obelisks are blue and health obelisks are green (see pic below). However, this color difference didn't mean anything to me in the first few levels of the game, one of them gave me loot and catalysts and the other gave me health and power capsules. It simply made sense to open all of them, unless of course you knew about the objective log (shortcut 'O') that early in the game.

^Bad (Unless you're dying)  Good^

You, the player, are the Crogenitor and you gain experience and levels by killing, slaying and obliterating all Darkspore in your path. In order to do this though, you must first 'edit' your heroes with the appropriate gear and more importantly, looks (or is it the other way around?). Each hero is one of five types, bio, cyber, necro, plasma, or quantum; sadly, the only real importance your heroes types have is that Darkspore deal 100% more damage to heroes of the same type. Your heroes on the other hand deal the same amount of damage to every type. In addition, each hero is one of 3 'classes': the sentinel, the tank type whose primary stat is strength, the ravager, melee fighter type whose ability damage is dexterity based and lastly, the tempest, the mind-focused caster type. With these heroes you are tasked to form squads, squads consist of 3 heroes that can be used interchangeably throughout each threat, as long as they're alive. If you or one of your party members does happen to lose a hero, they can be resurrected by picking up a 'resurrection capsule' dropped from any random Darkspore. It resembles an empty capsule surrounded by a whitish glow and unlike other capsules, it must be clicked on to be used.

The game's only currency is 'DNA', which can be obtained as a drop from mobs in the form of a strand or in exchange for selling equipment to the DNA converter (the store). DNA is used to purchase upgrades such as higher stat caps for your heroes, increased inventory size, unlocking catalyst slots and more. This can all be done in the Arsenal by opening your inventory ('I') and clicking the 'Upgrades' tab in the DNA converter.

PvP
Unfortunately there isn't much to PvP in Darkspore. It's 2v2 on a small arena-sized map, where you and your partner's three heroes of choice are pitted against your randomly selected opponents. I guess the upside is that there is any PvP at all. Unless you have a friend you can team up with, you're going to be paired up with a random partner, that is, if you have the patience to sit in matchmaking long enough to find one.

Tips
- If you ever get lost, the trails of blood are a decent indicator of where you've already been and pressing 'N' on your keyboard will bring up an arrow on your mini-map that will help lead you to the end of each level (and make sure you don't miss any objectives along the way)
- The key to a successful squad is versatility, vary your hero types and classes in order to prepare for any special enemies you may run into
- Having a hero with a healing squad ability like Meditron or Tork in your squads is extremely helpful
- Get link bonuses from your catalysts by linking the same colors horizontally, vertically or diagonally
- Party up when you can, the experience bonuses are significant
- Beginners, check out this great beginners FAQ

Pros
- It's an online dungeon crawl with 25 different heroes (100 total, but 4 variants of each hero), attractive level designs, one of a kind skills & abilities, co-op gameplay and of course, awesome loot
- The 'chaining' of threats, completing consecutive levels for greater rewards
- Customization of heroes is impressive, you can easily spend hours making your hero look as awesome or as goofy as you want
- Being able to use not just 1, but 3 different heroes in the form of a squad
    - Each hero having their own squad ability that can be used by any
      member
- For those who enjoy having a stat sheet to look at, Darkspore keeps track of some basic stats as shown below

62240 = 17 hours, 17 min & 20 sec

Cons
- Matchmaking system is virtually worthless (see suggestions below)
- With 100 available heroes it'd be nice if I could have more than 3 squads with only 9 of them
- Poor design of teleports to boss areas (at ends of levels) can cause you to lose valuable loot

Careful, once you enter the red bubble there's no going
 back

- Can't equip new loot as you get it, this can only be done in the editor
- Can't change the camera angle (in game)
- Can't 'alt + tab' out of full-screen mode and get back into the game
- The same level designs are recycled over and over

Other Thoughts/Suggestions
- The stat for time played is in seconds (obviously not a problem.. but.. ?)
- The narrator and the uninteresting story practically begged me to turn off my speakers so that I could at least try to enjoy the game
- Instead of using the heroes I wanted to use, I constantly found myself using the heroes that I had the best weapons for at the time.
- Any player-to-player trade or auction house system would do wonders for this game
- The matchmaking queue would be 1000x more effective if players could do anything other than wait at the matchmaking screen for 1 minute before it timed out. Allow players to edit their heroes/squads and even solo campaign while they're in queue for a group.

Bugs
- Mobs with the self-resurrect buff are very buggy, they only resurrect half of the time, and some of times they do they're invisible for some time and then they disappear
- If you use Skar's 'Shadow Cloak' (invisibility) ability during a horde encounter where a mutation agent is present, the agent will simultaneously turn all the surrounding enemies into elites
- See pics

Says the upgrade is available when it should
 give the insufficient dna message seen below

The correct version (and yes it was purely coincidence that
my party members at the time just happened to be talking
about the game's bugs as I was documenting one)

Score - 73
The brilliance of the spore editor and the unique idea of squads aren't quite enough to counteract the seemingly endless stream of bugs that plague Darkspore.

Rusty Hearts (Phase 1 Beta) Review

First off, let me just start off by saying that I love beta's. They give me a chance to play the games I can't wait to play, before they're released to the public. I get a free test drive that will in turn help the developer polish their game into the final product. Where's the downside in that? Well I guess this experience isn't for everyone, especially those lacking patience and who are easily irritated by bugs and imperfections. I assure you, there will be monsters running through walls, shooting through walls, disappearing and reappearing for no apparent reason. Servers will come down for hours at a time just when you start really getting into the game and you just have to accept it because it's an integral part of the game testing process.

Character Options
All right, on to the game. There are currently 3 characters to choose from (if you're looking for character customization, this is the first area that Rusty Hearts will disappoint). Each character is just that, a character with their own appearance and abilities unique to them. The only thing that sets you apart from another person playing the same character, is your name. First off we have Frantz (the character I played primarily),  who's your basic fighter type, he wears heavy armor and wields either a sword or an axe. If you enjoy literally 'hacking and slashing' your enemies in aerial combat, Frantz is your man. Next up is Tude, who specializes in the use of fist weapons, either the gauntlet or the claw (the claw being the slower but more deadly of the two). He wears leather armor and most resembles the rogue class from other MMO's. Angela, is currently the lone female (another female character will be introduced later on) as well as spell caster, in Rusty Hearts. While she is a cloth wearer, she can also deal considerable melee damage. Angela's weapons of choice include the magic sword or the scythe, with the latter of the two being the '2-handed' option. The 'yet to be fully revealed' fourth character, if we follow the pretty clear trend, is likely going to be sporting a set of chain armor. Oh, and her name is Natasha (don't you feel like you know her now?).

Gameplay

Game interface with some explanation

So now that you've chosen your 'hero' what are you going to do? After you create your character you're given a choice of whether or not you want to run through the tutorial. It has a fair amount of dialog so if you're ready to play and dialog isn't your thing then you'll be fine to just skip it and start running dungeons asap. Dungeons in Rusty Hearts utilize a grading system based on a number of different factors, including but certainly not limited to, the time it takes you to kill the mobs in an 'area', chain kills (killing multiple enemies simultaneously), chain hits (consecutive hits) and the number of hits you take. Those are just a few of many things that will  affect which of these grades you will ultimately end up with: F , D , C , B , A , S , SS or SSS. Understandably, the higher your rank is at the end of your run, the more experience you'll be awarded. There are also certain quests that will require you to finish with a specific rank (for example, quests will often ask you to complete 'instance x' with 'A' Rank or higher). In addition to this grading system, (most) dungeons have 4 different difficulty levels beginning with normal. From there you can progress after clearing each previous mode with a 'D' grade or better to the hard, very hard and blood modes (blood mode isn't available for lower level dungeons and requires 5 'keys' attained from hard/very hard modes) for more experience and more importantly, better loot!

PvP

Once you reach level 10 you have the option to participate in the PvP arena. Even with some significant imbalances in the PvP aspect of the game, I was surprised to find myself still participating in it. What kept me interested more than anything were the unique PvP modes that were offered.  You have several options when it comes to the RH arena, the various types of matches include: solo survival, team survival, tag team, death match or a leader match. Solo survival should be pretty self explanatory, it's a free for all duel to the death or until time is up between all players. Team survival allows straight up 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 matches between players. In a tag team match, the order that players will fight is randomly selected at the beginning. From there it will keep going down each team's list of players until every player from one team has been defeated. A death match is similar to team survival except that players will respawn after they are killed until either 1) One team has reached a certain number of kills or 2) Time runs out. The last option is a leader match, where one player from each team is designated to be the 'leader' prior to the match and once either leader is defeated, the other team is victorious.

Pros
-It's 100% free to play, not just the beta, but the actual game itself will be free when it's released. So really you have nothing to lose by giving Rusty Hearts a test run
-Brings together the addictive qualities of an MMO as well as your typical dungeon crawl
-(Should be a pro, if it works) Like every half decent hack-n-slash game should, RH allows you to play with a console controller! (Unfortunately I wasn't able to because I don't have a wired controller)
-Each character has a set of unique and visually impressive skills
-Clearing instances with a friend is loads of fun, the runs become a lot faster, it allows you to take on more challenging enemies (for better loot) and you get a great group experience bonus at the end
-This is only the first phase of beta, there is still plenty more content yet to be released and fully tested before the official game's release

I guess that's sorta maybe kinda cool.. maybe

Cons
-Only being able to run the similarly styled dungeons over and over can start to feel like that dreaded repetitive grind
-There's zero character customization
-Dungeon grading system can be rather unforgiving at times (There were times where I was expecting my rank to go up after an area but instead it dropped two or three for no apparent reason)
-Current 'Stamina' system that's in place doesn't allow players to do quests or gain experience once they're stamina bar is empty. It also doesn't give you a warning if you turn in quests while your stamina is depleted, which can cause you to lose a substantial amount of experience and become a sad panda :(
-Key-binding options are very limited, for example you can't use modifiers like shift, ctrl and alt to bind with other keys. This is a huge downside for me, especially as the number of skills increase past level 20.
-Once you choose a weapon specialization (at level 20) there is no way for you to change it. The same is true for skills and abilities. There needs to be some sort of reset option.
-In dungeons that have locked doors, there's no confirmation before your key is used to open a door if you accidentally wander too close to it. There were too many times where I had my keys wasted opening doors I didn't want to open.

Best item description... ever.

Bugs and issues I ran into:
-A few times when I logged into the game, the shortcut keys to open my inventory, character screen or any other interface menu wouldn't weren't responsive. However, my skills and abilities would still activate properly. Each time this occurred I was able to resolve it by exiting and restarting my game client
-Early in the game when I was running the 2nd instance on hard mode one of the skeleton archers right before the final boss had managed to walk through the final 'barrier' into the bosses room, this was a problem because the barrier wouldn't let me pass until all the mobs prior to it were cleared. After a minute or so though, the 'runaway' skeleton reappeared in front of me and I was able to successfully complete the instance.
-There were a number of times where I would leave an instance (no particular instance, it happened to me in a few different dungeons) after I had finished it and my screen would go black and stay that way. This forced me to manually close the game and then wait around 5 minutes till I could log back on to my character again.
-This

Hmmm, it's dark in here.

Grade (0-100)
-N/A  (Can't grade a rough draft)

My Up and Coming Video Game Review Blog

If there's one thing I know about video games, it's that there can never be enough reviews for them. That's why I've decided to make my own blog doing just that. In addition to doing something I enjoy (and sharing my experiences and opinions about it) I hope it will become a useful tool for other gamers like yourself. While I am primarily a PC gamer and consequently a subscriber (which I'd have to recommend to all of you who game on the PC and aren't already long-time readers) I also find myself frequently holding an Xbox 360 controller and aiming down the sights of a FAMAS (my go-to weapon in all versions of CoD). And while I'm not always finding enough time in the day to utilize it, I do have access to a Wii, so there might be a few reviews sprouting up for those games from time to time as well. In fact, I might just write about whatever I feel like writing about, how does that sound?

Now you might be wondering how my relationship with video games first started, if not then I'm sorry but I'm going to tell you anyway :) . One of the very first games I remember playing was Duck Hunt on my Nintendo, I couldn't have been more than 8 years old at the time and I didn't know what could possibly be more fun that shooting virtual ducks with my 'Gun'. Around the same time I was also playing on a Sega Genesis, my favorites included Sonic the Hedgehog and an NFL game that I played with my brother for hours at a time. What really solidified my love for gaming though, were my first experiences with computer gaming. I was lucky enough to play the original Warcraft, Doom (I'm not going to lie, this game gave me nightmares after I watched my dad play it for the first time :*( then again, I'm not sure what 8 year old wouldn't have nightmares), Diablo, Starcraft and my first MMO  Everquest. Needless to say I've been hooked ever since.
   
Thank you all for reading my first post! There will be many more to come ;).