I loved the ending of Mass Effect 3

18 apr, 17:50

I LOVED the ending of Mass Effect 3
genre:action/rpg

Maybe loved is an exaggeration on my part.But bare with me I will explain. Honestly after having heard so much about Mass Effect 3 and the way it ended it put me off playing it until I actually played it.And I have to say there were more than enough annoyances and flaws in design like lack of inventory and keeping track of  what you had accomplished in the side quests.Also triggering these side quests required you to explore every inch of all the sections in the Citadel even when there was no logical reason to do so.Which is a very old school RPG mechanic and not a problem if it weren't for the numerous loading times.It really tested your patience at times.Other RPG Elements were stripped down to the bare minimum and in light of the scale and grandness of the story I fully understand that.But none of them could sway me from one important fact.From start till ending Mass Effect is epic! You will laugh,cry,get angry and every emotion you can think of that make every minute of this game an unforgettable experience.Which is something most players will agree on. How can you not be! In the whole franchise of Mass Effect the lives you touch upon have impact on your adventure.
Except maybe for the final ending. I guess some people might have hoped to see more of the influence of their interaction with other characters. But as it was for me, it was a good ending.Of course it was a little too minimalistic and perhaps a little too easy.It sure would have been nice to see the aftermath and how the other characters were doing.But if you tried to get most out of the game and partook in every mission,quest or dialogue that was available to you it will get clear of where the characters are in their life and what still was left to do for them.Most of the dialogue options also hinted how it would end for Shepard.Contrary to belief it does pay off to be immersed in the Mass Effect Universe through completing all of the available dialogue, missions and interactions with every console or device that is available.Unlike in previous Mass Effect games even the littlest fetch quests in this last part mattered in the grand scheme of things or were tied to how Shepard was looked at. (In my humble opinion in RPG oriented games it always is worth to do side quests even when it only serves as background of the universe you live in .) So right before the last mission a lot would have had to happen to negate the already full experience I gotten from the game.It did help that I was expecting the worst.Although I have to say that even if I was not prepared for it I would have like the ending since I realized there were only a few ways the story could end.While the story was rich with a most interesting and complex universe filled with even more interesting and beings living within it the story was never far from a predictable affair. Of course I can understand that many things like indoctrination and synthesis won't make sense (unless like I said took the time to interact with everything that is possible because those topics are talked about) and feel like some rushed and thrown in ideas to give you this outcome.Only to me those never felt as insulting as the conclusions to Battlestar Galactica (reboot) and Lost.Big difference was that the whole emphasis of those tv shows was based on the promise to deliver answers to mysteries presented throughout where as in Mass Effect there was no real mystery other than why the Reapers were attacking.And that question sort of became obsolete the moment all creatures (organics and synthetics) were being destroyed.So the question then shifts to how and when will it end.Normally I would agree with endings where too many things are left abstract or too open.In this case however I feel more than enough is explained or hinted which makes it  nice to be able to fill in the blanks yourself should you want to.Isn't that what makes Science Fiction so darn interesting?      

Will I ever finish Dark Souls? (My thoughts so far)

11 apr, 23:52

Will I ever finish Dark Souls?

In two years or so maybe.Probably sooner but each time when I play the game I discover something new.It is said a lot of areas and items or weapons are optional.And I have seen videos of people completing the game very quickly except that Dark Souls is not meant to be played that way.Exploration seems to be terrifying and rewarding at the same time.The game manages to scare you to death with the most impossible bosses only to hint that there is always a way to beat them as long as you as you look for it.The answer is out there in that world but it is up to you to find it.To rush this game would spoil the fun.So I am going to play it when I can and feel like it until I finish it one day.So far I have experienced all the emotions you could think of  ranging from angry to ecstatic and I keep coming back for more.

Review Mafia II (XBOX 360)

11 apr, 23:29

Review Mafia II (XBOX 360)
genre:action/adventure,third person shooter

Mafia 2 is a title that I wasn't entirely sure off until I played the demo and a little (first few missions) of the original game xbox version.The original is one impressive title and after playing it for a while I knew it was a game I would enjoy very much.The demo also showed promise and after having read so much praise for the awesome story I was sold.After playing the game for a few hours however it became clear that the supposedly awesome story is nothing but a tame and badly rehashed collection of scenes or stories from several famous gangster movies.And that might impress people who never seen them before but for someone like me who has seen a lot of them it simply does not cut it.If a game is mostly focused on the story then it better be damn good.If you must rehash old stories why not play around with them to keep it a little fresh.Now I can live with a bad story if the characters had some meat to them.All the great gangster movies had a number of compelling figures or were made compelling through the dialogue or little anecdotes within the main story.In Mafia 2 these figures aren't present.(But it has to be said that the voice acting in itself is pretty good and helps to remain interested.)The main story is so generic that at one point I thought that it could not be true and that some awesome twists would occur to surprise the player and make us forget how bland the characters truly are.Sadly this does not happen.Let's compare it to GTA IV.In essence the story of GTA IV for example was quite simple but it was made into a very enjoyable one because of Niko Bellic being a well rounded character that made it hard not to like him.He made you immerse in the world he lived in.Vito Scaletta is no Niko Bellic or John Marsten (Red Dead Redemption) for that matter.He had so much potential but in the end he is a very forgettable character since there is hardly any depth to him.In the cut scenes they did show he had some reservations of what he was ordered to do but only on occasion did it translate into the game play.Don't get me wrong.I liked the gameplay especially the shooter sections.It was the driving and lack of diversity that made it a rather dull experience sometimes.It was nice to be able to drive around in this big city.Only without side missions or other things to do I wished I could have skipped the driving altogether.Being able to collect playboys was a nice touch.And I would have liked to have the option to return to a location already visited or at least being able to replay the levels to collect whatever there is to be collected.I get it though,the developers wanted to keep gamers focused on the story without getting side tracked too much.And like I said had the story been worth it you would not have heard me complain.Overall I did enjoy the game for what it offered except I was hoping for so much more.     

Review Velvet Assassin (XBOX 360)

31 mrt, 00:44

Review Velvet Assassin (XBOX 360)
genre:s tealth,shooter

Velvet Assassin for the most part contains almost everything I like in stealth games.You need to thread lightly and be aware of your surroundings.If you get spotted it usually means instant death.So you need to think of a strategy to go from point A to B without getting noticed.To a degree because you can whistle or use your silenced gun to attract attention which is needed sometimes to get an enemy to break his pattern and get him on his own giving you the opportunity to take care of him.In this aspect it is very similar to the game play mechanics of Splinter Cell.Except without the cool gadgets.Understandable of course since this game is set in World War II.To compensate for the lack of those useful gadgets you get morphine.If you use this it will make enable you to kill of one guard in plain sight without alerting the other ones as long as you hide the body in time.Throughout the mission you will find some collectibles and if you have found enough you will get a star to upgrade your character (Morphine:this will increase the time morphine is active and the number of times it can be used,Stealth:increases your sneaking speed and Strength:increases the number of damage you can take when shot.It is very easy to overlook or miss these collectibles and therefore you won't be able to upgrade all of these skills.But to be honest.I hardly noticed the supposedly faster sneaking or being able to take more bullets.So not sure if it really matters that much!).
Velvet Assassin has these moments usually at the end of a mission where you are forced to abandon stealth and where the game becomes a shooter except that our character is not suited for this at all.Especially in the last two missions this gets clear since then you really notice how clunky the combat controls are.If you are lucky you can hide behind cover and eliminate enemies one by one but even then the enemies manage to shoot and damage you.The Nazi's with the flame throwers are the worst.They can spot you even when it's impossible.But the damage they can deal is terrifying since their flame throwers have a very long reach as well.They even are capable of going right through walls.Very cheap way to increase an already difficult game.These last missions ruined the overall experience for me somewhat.And I rather want to ignore them since up until them I was having fun.Although that does not mean that the missions in between did not have their share of frustration.At least that was manageable to a point.This is a very good game to check how high your Zen levels are.Often though it was better to stop playing and continue when you felt like it again.It's not a game you will play non stop.And that is mostly because of the save/checkpoint system.There is no real logic to it.Sometimes it takes too many difficult sections before you actually reach a checkpoint.(Some of you might be thinking that it was the same in the first two Splinter Cell,XBOX versions that is, before you could save where you wanted it to in Chaos Theory).Only if I had to compare I think that Splinter Cell was much fairer since it did offer more alternative ways and tricks to get out of a predicament.Here it simply is used to increase the difficulty in a cheap way.
The final mission in it's entirety seems like it has been a rush job and does not make sense at all.What exactly is the point to suddenly put someone who is all about the stealth in the middle of some deadly shoot outs.A few shots and you are gone.None of your usual gear or other means like morphine,vests,or silenced guns are present to aid you like in the first missions.To me the awesome part of the main character was that she took out Nazi's in her own way,silent but deadly.Blasting with machine guns is so generic and frankly does not belong in a stealth game unless there is a decent game play element that makes it doable like for example a decent cover system. 
While the gameplay mechanics in Velvet Assassin are a bit simplified in comparison with other stealth games and it can be frustrating it did offer me quite the fun experience.Excluding the shooter sections and the poor ending story wise.People who are into stealth games should not pass this up since it's too solid to do so.But time and patience is required.

Review Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

23 mrt, 21:43

Review Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
genre:d rama,comedy,romance

Silver Linings Playbook caught my attention because there was a lot of buzz around it and I wanted to know why that was.I checked out the trailer which looked promising.Since it showed a man,our main character (played by Bradley Cooper) having some psychological disorder trying to adjust and fit in.Such topics intrigue me and it really looked like that the focus would be on this and that the other elements like romance would be downplayed somewhat.However after a very interesting start it does reveal itself to be exactly what I hoped it would not be: A romantic comedy.A feel good comedy to be exact.While this in itself is not a huge problem for me I had hoped for some freshness.With all those eccentric characters and their quirks there was enough room to do something rarely seen before.In stead we get the same old thing,predictable and pointless.Silver Linings has it's charm and most of that is because of the solid acting.And who doesn't like feel good movies.But since I was expecting so much more and so much better I can't hide that I was disappointed.Enjoyable but not a movie that deserves awards.

Review Arbitrage (2012)

19 mrt, 16:48

Review Arbitrage (2012)
genre:thriller

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Arbitrage is one of those thrillers that relies heavily on strong characters and the acting to make it interesting.The plot itself is not that compelling although there is just enough build up in suspense.But that is only the case if you care about the main character played by Richard Gere.And while Richard Gere is competent it is nowhere near a performance that really makes you want to invest in him.He is never the truly bad guy that he is made out to be.In the movie we get examples of what lengths he goes to in order to achieve his goals.Most of his acts certainly will question the morality of oneself but is it as evil as they want us to believe.For that the movie is too simplified and unconvincing.I can think of far worse and I don't even have to crack my brains because you can read about it in the papers on a daily basis.Richard Gere's character still tries to do good where he can and it makes him too sympethatic and in the end predictable and boring.How is it exciting to watch a thriller knowing in advance how it will end?Exactly.If you ask me this one is a tad overrated. 

Review Prototype 2 (XBOX360)

19 mrt, 16:39

Review Prototype 2 (XBOX360)
genre:action/adventure

Prototype and Infamous were the first games to offer you a experience of a human being suddenly having god like powers.Compared to Infamous Prototype offered more variety in skills and powers and had no moral compass.The abilities you gained were larger in scale and far more destructive.Basically it came down to: "Here are your powers and the world,go play and have fun".
Prototype 2 expands on this and makes you even more powerful.All of the gameplay mechanics from the original are present and tweaked.The controls are tight,smooth so that moves are incredibly easy to pull off..Gliding,combat and the crazy powers are phenomenal and this time you don't have to wait that long to get them since you can gain them early on by completing side missions and finding collectables.Certain areas will contain hives where you also get the opportunity to upgrade once you do what is required of you to do in that hive usually consuming or defeating infected monsters.But these are only visible on the map once you stumble on them by accident.That means you have some exploring to do if you want to upgrade all your powers.Not that you need them because from the start you are already incredibly powerful.More so than Alex Mercer was in the beginning.Which brings me to the one thing that you immediately will notice.Prototype 2 is too easy.Playing on Normal in the original was far from easy.It had missions where you would die pretty quick and where you were forced to consume people like crazy to get health back.Granted most of the difficulty consisted of overwhelming you with enemies that could pack a punch.In prototype being overwhelmed by enemies is no cause for concern at least not that much.And the consequence is that you will breeze through the missions.As always I tried to do as much as possible and decided to do all the side missions.Surprisingly it is in these missions that you will find the challenge most of the gamers are looking for.One type of mission was cargo delivery where the objective is to retrieve the packages as fast as you could within the given time.Problem was that you had to ignore using the glide ability which is pretty much the most used ability in the game.And on top of that there was no room for error which reminded me of the Dahaka chases in Prince of Persia:Warrior Within.In this case however it was not that difficult in principle but it requires some adjusting and restraint.There were also missions where you were forced to stay in cover as a soldier and were limited to using the weapons that were at your disposal.Not being able to use your super powers added quite some tension.These missions were a welcome change of pace and enhanced the feeling of how impressive the super powers actually are.So while the challenge is lacking you do feel like a God in this game.And to be honest that is a wonderful feeling as long as it lasts The story starts where it was left of from the original and does something pretty unique.Alex Mercer our hero from the first Prototype becomes the main villain.Too bad though that Alex Mercer is more active off screen and is not that impressive as final baddie.In the original the last two missions were incredible epic.They really felt like missions that belonged and were incredibly intense.In Prototype Alex Mercer was simple to beat.Which was a little disappointing.I quite liked how they fit Heller into the story as it makes you sympathize with him from the start.However the consequence is that he really can't be bothered by all the conspiracy and end of the world stuff.Which makes the overall story feel less epic.Overall I think Prototype 2 is a game that you will enjoy especially if you have played the first because then it becomes clear how much the game play mechanics of the original have improved.It is possible to enjoy the game without having played but then I think you will miss out on some wonderful details that will make you appreciate this sequel even further. 

Review The Matrix:p ath of Neo (XBOX,PS2)

18 mrt, 03:52

Review The Matrix:p ath of Neo (PS2,XBOX)
genre:action/adventure

After reading several bad reviews I felt compelled to at least give a more positive view on "Path of Neo". First I will point that this game does what most players wanted from "Enter the Matrix". And that's to be Neo. You will play the adventures he experienced in the trilogy. But you will also play the training levels,they skipped in the first movie (only the fight between Morpheus and Neo was also in " The Matrix"). These training levels are great,since they are a homage to several Asian action movies in general (mostly Japanese and Hong Kong). If you look closely the first stage of the shooting level is a reference to "Hard Boiled". The sword training is a reference to several samurai movies. And the first fighting level is a reference to Bruce Lee in "Enter the dragon" So for fans of this genre this is a must play. Being Neo is really cool. Most of his moves he does in the movie you can do in the game (special mention: the round twist kick with his pole in "Burly Brawl" where he fights 100's of Smith's,really satisfying move to do in the game). Only you can not fly at will,you can jump high and very high but not fly like he does in the movie. I think this is a missed opportunity,but is not necessary to enjoy the game fully! The graphics in general are not that bad,but could have been much better. (The PS2 has even worse graphics as the xbox but it can be improved with a component cable and lcd TV.)There are some levels that are a little tedious and random and do feel like an attempt to prolong the game length which might just put some players off.In one level concerning The Frenchman you are forced to fight ants.Say what?Don't panic.Breathe and then asses the situation.Is it worth going through this agony.Yes,yes,yes,it surely is.After this level is the precursor to fight multiple Smiths.Any level where you can do that is awesome.Only remember to get a pole to enforce that awesomeness.Despite the action sometimes getting confusing and chaotic.And controls not always being intuitive,the game play is more than fantastic and satisfying. There is an alternative ending which is a reference to Japanese Monster movies. This game like the matrix trilogy is pure entertainment. It is fun being Neo in this game and that is what it is about. Go play it! (Addendum Aug 2010: I am still enjoying the game even when it is full of flaws. The huge fun factor makes up for all of this).
Edit Monday 18-03-2013.Between 2010 and now I have replayed this game a couple of times (on the XBOX and PS2) because it is simply awesome being the one!I know the graphics might put some people off.But Path of Neo is the perfect example of proof where gameplay wins it from the visuals.

Review Jack Reacher (2012)

17 mrt, 18:57

Review Jack Reacher (2012)
genre:thriller,crime,action

Jack Reacher is a fictional character in a book series and from what I read on Wikipedia is far more interesting than portrayed by Tom Cruise in the movie.I only checked the info on Jack Reacher after I had seen the movie to avoid knowing facts that would handicap me in my enjoyment while watching it.Problem is that in the film we don't to get know the character that well.Only in some scenes does the viewer learn of Jack Reacher's high sense of justice.Aside from his great detective and combat skills (which we have to assume) not much depth his given to his character.All the other characters in the movie are pretty bland which gets obvious pretty quick since there is not much to the plot.Werner Herzog who is a famous film and documentary maker as the main villain is rather an odd choice.Not sure what the goal was but from the minute he made his entrance I could not take him serious.A German accent this thick distracted me every time from what he was saying.And except for the talking there was not much he did himself.I kept thinking this must be a red herring and the real villain will show his face.Wishful thinking!It does make you wonder why Werner Herzor chose this movie to debut as an actor.The one character that did stick out was Robert Duvall as Cash.He and Tom Cruise together were hilarious.Too bad though that you have to wait for the finale to see that happen.There aren't real twists nor is there tension or suspense to propel the viewer into excitement.The few action scenes were decent but if they were supposed to impress than they failed.Although there was one scene after a car chase I particularly liked.I won't spoil it for you but you will know what I am talking about if you see it.Now that being said Jack Reacher is decent enough to entertain.But if you have to compare it to other crime thrillers or earlier movies Tom Cruise starred in like Knight and Day than I would say that Knight and Day is far more enjoyable.In some reviews I read that Jack Reacher is on par with Mission Impossible 4.No idea,what made them came to that conclusion because nothing in Jack Reacher can be compared to the high octane action thrill rides that are Mission Impossible.I can't recommend this title.It's one to check out once it is on television or if there is nothing else on.  

Review Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

15 mrt, 13:38

Review Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
genre:action/adventure

When I saw this game being played in the movie "Reign Over Me" I just had to see for myself what kind of a game this was.Of course I had heard about it before but for some reason it didn't impress me that much to buy and play the game. Now having it played and still playing it from time to time I must say that "Shadow of the Colossus" is a must own game. All this game does is breath ambiance. When you step into this world you really feel isolated and confused since the plot is not explained at all. While I hate abstract concepts in movies and games in this particular case it does work. Accompanied by your trusty horse it is you against the biggest creatures you can imagine. The horse is even essential in some missions. In short he is your best friend and you care for him. Fighting the monsters at first can be intimidating since hardly any explanations are given apart for some hints while you try to figure out your strategy. But soon after you get the idea it isn't that hard. Controlling you character and the horse does take some time getting used to but after defeating your first boss you will get the hang of it. After you have slain your first monster you will feel glad and sad at the same time. Defeating this huge monster will give you a big sense of accomplishment. But you will also feel that there is something tragic about his death. I have slain monsters in several other games but not once did I feel sad about killing these creatures. "Shadow of the Colossus" is actually one tragic event to another tragic event in order to achieve a beautiful goal which gets clear in the intro of the game.And that is real rare to see in a game. Does this game have a satisfying ending? To me it did,but it depends on your interpretation of the end sequence. Since it is not spelled out. To me this game is a work of art!