God of War: Ascension - Demo impressions

Here's another demo impressions post. Ascension is the prequel of the original god of war series, the demo starts off half-assed. I had to google Ascension's timeline to know when it occurs, before or after god of war trilogy. God of war: Ascension stays pretty much the same to its series in terms of gameplay and quick-time events, there are also minor changes that make gameplay more fluent compared to the past.
Environment: Bright and clear, graphics is awesome! There are more environment interactions now, like the ground sliding part but it creates camera problems.
Combat: The usual pair of chained blades. Kratos can now pick up weapons (blades etc.) from the ground and use it against enemies or even throw them. There is also the gauge system now where you can execute more light/heavy attacks when the red meter is filled.
Freedom: The entire god of war series are strictly path directed. This is no limiting point as that is just how action games work. I will skipped on this one.
New features: There are now collectibles, like records from god bibles etc. Executions are now notified by a curved red line above enemies but no idea what to press to execute - self exploration. Minor changes done to the obtaining of red orbs from chests (smashing instead of opening) and button mashing. Button mashing to lift gates and executions are more sensitive now for smoother gameplay.
All that were posted above belongs to the 20-minute demo only. There is only one difficulty in the demo, so there will be no comparison of difficulties in here. I will probably buy this game but definitely not now since I have not even play god of war 3 yet.

Till next time.

Resident Evil Revelations - Demo impressions

Sup guys, I am back to keep this space alive a little. Haven't been watching any anime, I am still playing games though. Recently I just downloaded a couple of demo's from PSN, so I guess should give my impressions on them. Resident evil revelations stays pretty much the same as other resident evil games.
Environment: Dark and silent, dead mutated bodies hanging out of ventilated windows with blood spilled on walls and floors. What you did expect from a abandoned ship in the middle of the sea!
Combat: Your pistol and knife, and in this game knife is fucking useless!! I took like what, 12 knife pokes to kill a zombie on normal difficulty. You cannot run or sprint, but dodging is possible if you do not take a direct hit.
Freedom: There is a bit of exploration in here. Not totally a directed path, which gives the feeling of suspense when moving around.
New features: Environment scanning is now available, where you can scan the environment for items (herbs, ammo etc.) that could not be visually seen. You can also get free items by scanning any suspicious spots/bodies for analysis until 100% before it resets.
I have played revelations on both normal and hard difficulty. The differences between difficulties were pretty damn obvious. For example, I got a SMG and a shotgun at the start of the demo on hard difficulty while I only got a freaking pistol on normal difficulty. There were also way more zombies in hard difficulty and they are tank as fuck! I took like 4 shotgun shots to kill 1 zombie, cant even imagine if I am fighting a boss. Ammo's and herbs are not as frequent available as well.
All that was posted above belongs to the 20-minute demo only. I will not buy the game on PSN since I can just download through pc.

Till next time.

Sword Art Online

It took me just 2 days to finish the show, definitely one of the best animes for me! The start of the anime already got me hooked in, some awesome unique storyline that never once surfaced on anime history. It kept me watching episode after episode continuously without fail, always keeps me wondering whats next. Action scenes are sufficient, perhaps abit short in duration but its all well since most of which are flashy and are worth watching more than once! Besides all that, the anime also fits in some of mmorpg main features like recreational skills (fishing/cooking), blacksmith crafting, party/guild and PK etc. This show is just fantasy to me, enough said.

My rating: 9.0/10
In 2022, humanity has created a complete virtual environment as a mmorpg where humans could log in and play as characters themselves. This game is called Sword Art Online (SAO). Gamers around the world bought the game on launch date, log into the virtual world only to realise that there is no button to log out. The truth appears to be that they are trapped in the world of SAO and the only way to escape is to defeat the final boss and clear the game. It is a game of death, dead in game = dead in real life. Now players will have to fight for their lives, may the strongest survive! 
The anime was really good in showcasing the assets of a mmorpg as well as how life is like in a game. Different assets of a mmorpg are spread out into episodes. For example, recreational skills like fishing and cooking are displayed. Quests, besides monster hunting but also people's requests like uncovering a mystery or capturing a wanted criminal for bounty etc. Boss fights are epic, short in duration but worth watching more than once. If you enjoy some anime heroic romance as well, this show is definitely a recommendation!

There are also some factors that hold the show back a little. The imbalanced timeframe. In the world of SAO, simply 9 episodes would already be like 2 years. While in the faerie world, 10 episodes is like only a week long. Some mysteries were also left untold, for example the 'walking coffin' guild. A bunch of suspicious PKers, little was told about them.
Any gamer would definitely love this anime, as well as the characters. Unique storyline, epic boss fights, incredible romance/affection, a must-watch!

Have a nice day!

The Darkness 2

The Darkness 2 is a first-person shooter, published by 2kGames in 2012. It was a good game, could have been so much better if it was uncensored. The gameplay was thrilling, using the power of the darkness and mutilating every mothafucker in your way! Cool-as-shit relics to collect, top-notch voice acts, amusing characters and not to forget the Vendettas! Story was fairly okay, taking revenge and getting down to the truth. Graphics was fine, maybe just some camera problems at times.

My rating: 7.5/10
Gamespot rating: 7.0/10

Goods: Refreshing gameplay, amusing characters, interesting relics to be uncover, top-notch voice acts, Vendettas mode

Bads: Censored executions, gameplay felt repetitive overtime, lipsyncing fails, imbalanced interface (postion to talk to characters, not alll scenes can be skipped)
The goods. Refreshing gameplay, embrace the darkness or die! The darkness in the game are just merely 2 demon snake heads yet more than enough to deliver a smooth sail to hell!! With the darkness, you will be able to grab objects in the environment like poles/car doors etc. and throw them at your enemies for the 'impaled' and 'sliced' executions. There is also the skill tree upgrade system whereby using dark essence acquired from missions, you can learnt new skills and upgrades. Dark essence are obtained from killing/eating hearts/collecting relics, you will get more essence if you perform executions on targets. Remember that lights are your worst enemies, destroy them!

You wont be using jackie all the time. For like 2-3 missions, you will be crawling around as the devil monkey ripping throats and groping eyeballs out. The monkey is worthy as your ally, showing you the way and assisting you in fights, and he is funny as well. New game + is available after the campaign for you to replay individual missions and uncover the remaining relics after your 1st playthrough.
Amusing characters, like Johnny, Vinnie and Dolfo. In a game of revengeance and blood spillage, it is always cool to have some characters to brighten up the underworld atmosphere. Each of them have their own unique personality that is so of detail, making them so memorable and fun to interact with!

Interesting relics to be uncover. All of darkness relics have their own in-depth history, described by Johnny himself-including voice act. Well like i said, described by JOHNNY. Thats all you need to know.

Top-notch voice acts. This had to go to the darkness itself, the person voicing the darkness is a genius! The voices for the rest are freaking damn clear and on-point, you can clearly hear every single word. This actually makes you want to listen instead of just skipping the scenes.

Vendettas mode, featuring new characters and a whole new campaign/story. Every single character had their own distinct personality and talent trees, choose either 1 to play the campaign. A campaign based on a mercenary perspective, not a bad one indeed.
The bads. Censored executions, the worse of them all. Asia copies of the game are all censored, which just sucked. Executions never felt like executions, you cant even see the body tear into half not to say about the more severe executions (those are totally removed from the game). This also make some of the skills in the talent tree completely useless, like for example health/ammo/sheild executions. You expect more violent kills right and all you get is just the effect of the executions using always body slam and body rip. A disappointment indeed.

Gameplay felt repetitive overtime. Once you have acquired all the skills in the talent tree, there is really nothing much to do other than searching for all the relics. Massacre is fun at first, but boring after a while. Vendettas mode provides campaign and hitlist, but trust me you will only play 1 character and you be done. You will be shooting most of the time or using your secondary weapon (katana/staff/axe), even the talent trees wont help much in getting you interested.

Characters lipsyncing fails. The words said and the way they move their mouths dont even sync, sometimes their mouth will still be moving even though the sentence is done. This can be annoying to watch.

Imbalanced interface. For example, talking to characters required a specific position to stand in order to interact with them. Not all cutscenes can be skipped, some can some cannot. Even if it can be skipped, its by sentence by sentence instead of the entire scene.
The Darkness 2 was a blasting experience, shredding people to bits never felt so fun before. Gameplay was exciting, story's abit confusing but still able to grasp in the end. So i am off to play star ocean now!

Have a nice day!

Crysis 2

Crysis 2 review is here! A sequel to crysis, developed by crytek in 2011. I had to say i enjoyed this game over the first one. Gameplay was breathtaking as always, given the new nano-catalyst upgrade system and others. Story was just okay and serioulsy i dont see how this is a sequel other than the brought over of prophet. Outbreak of alien virus was due to a biochemical leak and such, nothing clear was brought over to the audience despite them using a television broadcast for the introduction. Graphics was still realistic, i had to say crytek really impresses me with their in-game graphics.

My rating: 8.2/10
Gamespot rating: 8.5/10

Goods: New gameplay add-ons (Nano-catalyst upgrade system/stealth kill/power kick/weapons detaching/objective meter/collectables), impressive environment, more interesting and effective weapons

Bads: Draggy storyline (repetitive missions, story twists), no more smooth maneuvering of skills on the mouse, dumb-ass-fuck main character
                       
The goods. New gameplay add-ons, the postive ones. The main add-on in this game is the nano-catalyst upgrade system. By killing aliens depending on how strong they are, you are able to obtain nano-catalysts from their dead bodies and use it to upgrade your suit skills which gives us players a purpose to even kill the aliens! The stronger the aliens, the more nano-catalysts you will get. Suit skills include prolonged stealth mode/air stomp/enemy sensor etc. which can prove to be real useful in tight situations. 

Other add-ons like the stealth kill and power kick are fun and useful. Stealth kill worked not only on humans but also on aliens, for the swift kill! Power kick work on large objects, for the decolt and can serves as a sheild. Machine guns from vehicles can also be detached for greater mobility around the battlefield. Directions of the objective is now guided by the blue objective meter, similar to black ops. No longer like the 1st crysis where you have to open your map continuously to check the objective location. Collectables like dog tags and car keys are also available.
                        
Impressive environment. Crysis 2 battlefield is set in New York City, no longer your seaside korean military jungle. Big structures, skylines and buildings etc. are brillantly drawn and put in place. The 'end of the world' atmosphere sets in just right, making gaming experience so much more exciting!

More interesting and effective weapons. In the 1st crysis, the most memorable weapon would probably only be the gauss rifle. In crysis 2, there are way more in-house weapons for example the AY-69 (Machine Pistol), L-TAG (Grenade Launcher), K-VOLT (Electric Pellet SMG), Majestic (High-powered Revolver) and X-43 Mike (Microwave Induced Klystron Emitter) along with their individual attachments. Not to forget crysis 2 new Gauss Rifle!
The bads. Draggy storyline. Firstly, repetitive missions like securing bases sucks balls! You wont know how long these missions will last and there are just too many aliens!! Secondly, story twists fail to impress and presented more missions for the player to suffer through.

No more smooth maneuvering of skills on the mouse, it would be better off using the keyboard to do so. The choice of controlling strength and speed is no longer viable so all that left is just armor and cloak which requires just 2 keys. Personally i still prefer to have control over all my abilities even though in crysis 2, strength mode is so desired that it would be better off inducing it into the nanosuit-uncontrollable. Maximum speed, no longer effective, no more superhuman flash.

Dumb-ass-fuck main character. Alcatraz, being the main protagonist has no control in anything he does. Not having said a single word throughout the whole game, basically just following orders and even goes to his own death if told to do so. Even Noman in the 1st crysis is able to express his emotions by cursing and swearing, Alcatraz never say shit when he got betrayed like 3 times in the game. I feel less connected to the story, treated more like a tool rather than the 'main protagonist'. Take the ending for example, no one gives a fuck about Alcatraz even though he save the world!! Enough said.
Crysis 2 stands alone better as an individual game, not as a sequel. Gameplay wise, crysis 2 improves much ahead of crysis 1 making it way enjoyable for the audience. Story wise, both versions just doesnt connect well and crysis 2 ending wasnt really satisfying, at least for me.

Have a nice day!

Crysis

Hi guys, its been a long time now. I will try to update this space as much as i can since i am now spare with few months of holiday. I am back to playing games, not too much on anime yet. So yeah, i completed crysis yesterday and now i am reviewing it. Crysis is a first-person shooter produced by Crytek in 2007. The gameplay was really fun since the abilities of the nanosuit is already given from the very start. Story was pretty good, about the north koreans followed by discovering buried alienware. Graphics was realistic at some point.

My rating: 8.0/10
Gamespot rating: 8.0/10

Goods: Smooth maneuvering of abilities, freedom of handling situations, good story setting, realistic graphics, numerous checkpoints

Bads: Glitches and bugs, unclear and dumb missions, gradually loss of freedom in gameplay
                            
The goods. Maneuvering of abilities could be easily done by clicking on the mouse roller and rolling it to whatever ability you want. There is the option of using the keyboard to do this, for the ones that are more keyboard-familiar. 4 abilities in total, maximum armor/super strength/maximum speed/cloak form. These abilities are present at the very start of the game, depending on how you use them determines how much fun you will have from it. For me, i use the mouse to switch in-between modes which is really convenient, no delay or whatsoever. Nano-energy recovers at a swift rate once you are in maximum armor so it doesnt really pose a problem of 'lack of energy'!

Freedom of handling situations. This is the main attraction of the game, provided that they give you the abilities to do whatever the fuck you want. On cloak mode, ambush the north koreans grabbing them by their neck then switch to super strength and throw them into the sea or off a cliff. On super strength and just punching them right in the face watching them fly backward. Grabbing objects and throwing it at the north koreans. These might all sound stupid but trust me, it is definitely way more fun than just shooting with a rifle. Missions like infiltrating the enemy's base, there is no fixed way to do it. You can go 'backdoor' either jumping over the wire fence or knocking it down using super strength and go cloak mode to explore the base. Basically, you feel like superman in the game!
                              
Setting of the story was fine. First, you start off as an infiltrator into the north korea borders attempting to save the hostages. As more of your mates died or being captured by some mysterious flying creature, the mission extends to not only rescuing the hostages but also determining the flying creature. Deeper and deeper into the island, you discovers that the north koreans are planning to revive some ancient buried alienware as their weapon for world invasion. You try to stop it but to no avail. Aliens ressurected and begin their world dominance. Its up to you and the military to stop this insane war before its too late!

Graphics was pretty realistic and outstanding. For example, walking into a waterfall. You can actually see water droplets on your vision glasses. Well that is a first for me. Characters expressions, trees/beaches/houses design were up to detail. There are so many checkpoints which make crysis so much less irritating of having to do fucked up missions over and over. All that makes this game aesthetically pleasing to play!
                              
The bads. All games cant escape having no glitches and bugs, crysis is no exception. Soldiers having parts of their bodies penetrating through walls and such. Mission bugs, missions could not be completed no matter what you do. Only by restarting the previous checkpoint and redoing the mission could then solve this bug.

Unclear and dumb missions. Missions like defending a secured location, a gigantic alien appears. I rocket launched it more than like 30 times, no shit happens. Countless aliens flying around, they keep coming no matter how many you shot down. No clear instructions or whatsoever were given, leaving me dumbfounded in the situation. Escort missions sucked so real bad!!! Objective was to escort prophet to the destinated location. He moves so damn slow and cant even defend himself against aliens when he was supposingly the team leader. AIs as always, nuff said.

Gradually loss of gameplay freedom, this could be felt once the aliens ressurected. You could no longer play with your abilities as much as before. Cloak and armor mode is useless against aliens, most of the time just gunfiring these mothafuckers. Missions where they just forced you to do it, for example flying a VTOL which just sucked. Personally, i hate piloting planes and this mission just fucked me up! Everything starts to follow a destinated path, no more do-whatever-the-fuck-you-want.
                               
Crysis, as a first-person shooter was fantastic! Interesting and useful abilities, just maybe the grabbing of people could be better registered. I previously intend to give it a 2nd playthrough, but the presence of shitass missions made it say fucked it and i am off to crysis 2.

Have a nice day!

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

I have been finishing more games than animes in the past couple of weeks, just that i did not have the time to review it back then. Now is the time! Everyone should have at least heard of ghostbusters before, most likely watched its movie. The video game itself is released on almost every console available at that time, but today's topic will be on the psp(No multiplayer). The game was released in 2009.

My rating: 7.5/10
Gamespot's rating: 7.5/10
Estimated playtime: 8 hours +

Goods: Decent storyline, refreshing gameplay, interesting equipment modes, freedom of property destruction

Bads: Soft vocals, retarded AIs, irritating glitches, money earned in game cant be used!!!
The goods. Decent storyline. In the city of new york, ghosts existed and thus formed the ghostbusting team. At the start of the game, nothing was really explained about their origins and the ghosts existence etc. It begins off with the 4 leading ghostbusters already experienced in what they are doing, YOU are the new recruit to the team. Regular ghostbusting missions at first, it gets progressively better throughout. Plot holes getting filled and there surfaced the source of the increased paranomal activites in town.

Refreshing gameplay. This is probably the only game that actually have you fighting ghosts to protect the innocent london civilians. Does not sound amusing but as you get your hands on it, it is actually pretty fun. You get to go on missions, locating the lead ghost and capturing it. Capturing ghosts with the proton stream, laying ghost traps and maneuvering them into it was enjoyable. I have never played any game that actually works like this, it was something very different and indeed refreshing to play! It is just that sometimes, fights gets too easy as it can always be dealed with the same method without putting in much effort.
Interesting equipments modes. You are only given the proton stream at the start which is fun to use and flashy to watch. Other weapons like the shock blast and slime blower are unique, each having their own alternate firing modes. They could have freezing effects, able to launch slime balls that would explode within seconds etc. Lets not forget about the PKE meter as well. All these put together makes the game so much special compared to the regular!

Freedom of property destruction. This is definitely a plus point of the game, property destruction!! In every mission, you could go around destroying whatever is there. Bookshelfs, room lights, tables, chairs basically ANYTHING that is visible and guess what, you get paid for doing that. Its kind of stupid, you destroy government property and the mayor is paying you for that...... what the Fuck!?!? This may not be too enjoyable, but still these fulfills the tiny bits of joy in life!
The bads. Soft vocals. Especially for those who did not watch the movie, you would of course want to understand the game story. But you could barely catch the things they are talking because of the poor quality vocals. Its almost to the extent of just hearing mumblings, which is really a disappointment.

Retarded AIs. AIs that would practically stand on the spot and watch you die, when they have the ability to revive you but they didnt for whatever shit reasons. This is definitely something not surprising.

Irritating glitches. At one moment, your team was behind your back fully geared. 2 seconds later they were nowhere to be seen, leaving you all alone to clear up the mess when it was supposed to be a team mission. Getting stuck at corners, ghosts teleporting around when they are not supposed to etc. These need to be fixed!

Money earned in the game cant be used!! All the time spend destroying things and earning cash, so what is there to buy????? NOTHING. You cant buy/upgrade any shit, not anywhere accessible in the game. No aftergame features that is~
Ghostbusters fans would definitely love this game. The rest may give this game a go, like how i did. It isnt that all-over fantastic kind of game, perhaps just a game to chill before heading back to hardcore gaming. Its pretty cool actually, at least something out of the ordinary box!! Thats about it for this post.

Have a nice day!
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