[Fantasysci5]

Darkness Within

Ugh. I can't begin to express how much I disliked this game. I was so looking forward to it, since I like dark games, but the lack of a plot that makes any kind of sense and no characters to interest me in just left a bitter taste in my mouth.

[TiAgUh]

Yakuza 2

6 (maaaybe 7) out of 10

here's my review - http://www.adventuregamers.com/forum...803#post511803

[DustyShinigami]

Silent Hill: Homecoming

3/5

It was alright. The atmosphere/ambience was appropriately creepy/eerie, the graphics look good, there's good use of sound, and the game was more enjoyable to play and felt more polished than Alone in the Dark.

However, i didn't find it particularly scary, the characters weren't all that interesting, the story wasn't anything special either and was a bit clichéd, voice acting was above-average or at times it felt flat, combat is so-so, puzzles felt too easy and the frame-rates drop from time-to-time.

This isn't a game i need to replay again in the future.

[Isak]

Okami, again.

10/10

[TiAgUh]

^ wow, really? Maybe i'll buy that one next.

[Jehane]

Reprobates_ (Next Life)
Still not sure what to think of this game. It had some strong sides and some very weak sides.
The good stuff:
- graphics (most of the time, especially during dream sequences)
- interesting story, especially in the second half; story gave me a lot to think about after finishing the game
- well done dream sequences with interesting puzzles and tasks

The bad stuff:
- annoying minigames (can be skipped when you've installed a patch)
- boring main character with a lot of ego
- hardly any dialogue; you don't really get to know the other characters
- a lot of running back and forth on that stupid island
- game overs
- hard to find hotspots
- some puzzles were stupid and not logical at all
- facial expressions were wooden although character animation otherwise was very good
- everything seems awfully slow. I mean really slooooow.

The patch helps with a lot of things - you don't have to make Adam eat and drink all the time because he loses energy when running (if he ever runs, that is); he leaves the scenery quickly when double-clicking on an exit (as far as I know, he doesn't do that without the patch); minigames can be skipped (thank god, they're really annoying).

I still have the feeling that some potential was just wasted here; also, in the end, a lot of questions were left unanswered. The parts of the story taking place on the island are just downright boring and not enough to keep you moving; the game gets more interesting once Adam can move around more resp. during the dream sequences.
5/10

[Wimli]

Sherlock Holmes vs Arsène Lupin (SH Nemesis)

The only previous encounter with Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes series I had before was Mystery of the Mummy and I gave up on that one after about fifteen minutes. Still, Nemesis looked a lot more interesting, so I picked it up when I found it in a bargain bin at my local store. Glad I did!

It's been a long time since a game sucked me in as much as this one. The recreation of some of England's most famous landmarks and museums is absolutely wonderful! Sometimes I would simply forget about the game and explore the surroundings in detail.

Spoiler:

The National Gallery

especially feels like actually walking around in the real thing.

The gameplay and puzzles are designed nicely overall, and I had lots of fun with figuring out some of the logic puzzles. There were a few instances that could have been better clued, and one or two too many hide & seek puzzles, but in general I didn't want the game to end. Graphics and sounds were more than adequate and created a nice atmosphere. Too bad though that there was so little life on Baker Street.

I'm looking forward to playing The Awakened and SH vs The Ripper!

8/10

[Lucien21]

InFamous

You play Cole, a bike messenger who is caught in an explosion when one of his packages explodes devestating Empire City.

Waking up he finds out that he now has superpowers and can absorb electricity and shoot it out his fingers. He can power up and heal himself by sucking the power out of anything electical, Cars/generators, wall sockets etc etc.

So now you wander a sandbox city (think GTA IV), scaling buildings like Spiderman, jumping across the rooftops, taking out bad guys with your newly found powers. Follow the story missions, or go on one of the wide variety of side missions to clean up the city and get to the bottom of who set off the bomb. The mission variety was quite good although there were the old standards for this type of game, defend an area, clear an area of bad guys, escort missions and the like, most of them were a lot of fun with the exception of the repetitive sewer missions which happens way too much as you reconnect the power to sections of the city (plus point is that you get a new power in those missions, but they are samey and boring as hell)

This is a great little game and was a huge amount of fun. Clambering over the buildings is extremely easy and a lot of fun, especially when you get more powerful techniques that allow you to grind on the wires or rail tracks and fly/glide, you will be racing over the rooftops with speed and grace.

Combat is fun and frentic (esp towards the end) with the enemies getting progressivly harder as you move to new areas. The range of powers grow as you go one and although they resemble the electrical equivalent of normal weaponry (i.e gun, grenade, sniper rifle, rocket launcher) it's always fun to see the electrical sparks bounce about, blowing up cars etc.

The plot is pretty standard fare with a few twists along the way. There is a crude "morality" based system that allows you to choose between evil and hero, help out the normals by reviving them and not shooting them while targetting the enemy etc sees you swing towards the Hero option, blast everything in sight and steal whatever you need and you become evil (your lightning turns red etc). You basic black and white morale choices.

Graphically the game is a bit hit or miss. It seemed unfinished at times with a lot of pop-in, weird animation and the occassional fall through the ground clipping problem, but overall the graphics were servicable. My guess is that the game was rushed slightly to beat Prototype to the marketplace, as it is a very similar game. I did however like the style and graphics of the comic book like cut scenes that frame the story.

Overall the game was a bit rough round hte edges, but a lot of fun which has had me hooked for the last couple of weeks with it's "just 5 more minutes" that turn into late nights frying reapers and bagmen who get in my road gameplay.

I think I might play it again, this time as an evil barsteward and take over the city . Muuuuhaaaahahahahahahah.

9/10

[Giligan]

Resistance 2

I bought this along with Killzone 2 when I bought my PS3. Resistance 2 is an amazing game - at times the graphics have problems, and the boss battles can get a bit over the top, but otherwise it's a stellar game. The plot is really the game's best aspect. I really became a fan of the Resistance series before I had even played the game, on account of the plot.

The gameplay is straightforward, and it's a blast to play. Shooting through walls is just plain fun, and the slo-mo sniping is awesome.

[cristane]

Finished Resident Evil 5 & just started Killzone 2 on my PS3. Both of them are terrific.

[QDream]

'Still Life 2'

2.5/5

[Roper Klacks]

Finished Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

What can i say... loved it, its perfect. The story and the writing is so good, and the way the narrative progresses is very adictive, loved the way some chapters/days endend with a cliffhanger like some TV series. I'm ashamed i have waited so many years to finally play it, and i'm a huge fan of GK3. And now GK2 is next on my list (yep, haven't play it also)

Anyway i'll give it a 10/10

[QDream]

'Secret Files 2'

4.5/5

[youfightlikeadairyfarmer]

Final Fantasy VI Advance
Is it weird that I've already beaten it and am now leveling my guys up to 99? I love this game.

[Bruno_Malta]

Secret Files Tunguska
4.5 / 5
Loved it all the way! Nice Story, fun characters and good puzzles. Looking foward to Secret Files 2.

Also, just finished Still Life 1 again in preparation for Still Life 2 (which i´m already playing and loving it).

[JemyM]

For the past weeks I have been finishing the DLC for Fallout 3, and I thought I should give you are minireview for each one of them. In short, the fourth is the best, the third is the most useful, the first and second are short and add little more than a few hours of sidequests.

Before I go on, let me say this at once, if you intend to play any DLC's, I suggest you get Broken Steel first so you get the level cap increase and be allowed to do the DLC's after finishing the main game instead of before.

Here goes:

Fallout 3 DLC 1. Operation Anchorage
In Operation Anchorage the player enters a "virtual reality simulation" in which they help the US to fight off chinese invaders in Anchorage, Alaska. This is basically a challenge for most of your current abilities, but mostly combat. You begin the simulation without weaponry, or companions, and you have to use what you find on the way to defeat hordes of chinese soldiers throughout military bases and a frosty landscape.

I cannot say that there are any glaring problems with the execution of the idea. The frosty landscape looks kinda good, and it's a change from the capital wastelands. It was actually interesting to have to go back to the "roots", using weapons I found on the path, compared to my "real world" character who can kill everything in it's path without breaking sweat.

My concerns might be the idea itself. Yeah, it's a bit inspired by the Guns of Navarone, and it's a war scenario, kinda like using the Fallout 3 engine to tell a story... it even add some canon. Overall though, Anchorage felt like a short sidetrip, and virtual reality in the Fallout universe? I don't know. This feels like one of those quests you do just to get a bit more out of the game. Even worse, Anchorage is almost completely based on combat and shooting stuff, and if you like me F3's strong point never was about combat, but about quests and exploration, so having an entire DLC based on combat was a bad idea. You aren't even allowed to go back into the simulation once you are done so once you are done, that's it.

Even if the only thing you get from the simulation itself are skills and experiencepoints, you do get some decent loot out of it that can be used in the "real world". The best imo, is a near permanent power armor (glitched duration?) without agility penalty for it, which might be a good thing. If you are a fan of Fallout 1 and 2 you might also want to check out one of the weapons you get.

Play Operation Anchorage if you want more out of Fallout 3, and if you need a good power armor that doesn't decay, but I would recommend having Broken Steel installed first.

Fallout 3 DLC 2. The Pitt
In The Pitt you are sent undercover into a den of slavers, as a slave, to find out if the leaders of the slavers have found a cure for mutations. Like Anchorhage you cannot take anything with you, neither weapons, armor or companions, so you have to do with what you find. I actually liked this because like I said before, my character is a bit too good otherwise, and it felt a bit refreshing to have to do with lousy armor and weaponry.

The new area looks great. It's darker and more gritty than previous games. If you just look out over the horizon you see a city covered in smoke with fire shooting up here and there, like a dark industrial setting.
The Pitt is actually the remains of Pittsburg, which is now basically a forge (The Mill), where the slavers force the slaves to make stuff. Much of the DLC takes place in an isolated place called the "steelyard" in which you must track down and find iron bars, kinda like a MMORPG grind quest. You go in there without anything on you but a small pistol, and it's filled with a new type of ghoul a long with a new type of raider called the wildmen. Once done there you will get into the ""Uptown" where the slavers reside, and you have to decide if you want to support them or free the slaves.

The bulk of The Pitt means chasing down the iron bars and you will get quite a few prices if you do. The most important new weapon is the "autoaxe", which is basically like a weedwhacker with a rotating blade that cuts down foes like butter. It's quite effective against the ghouls in the steelyard and you get better versions if you chase down the iron bars.

While I enjoyed The Pitt a bit more than Anchorage, and that it felt far more like Fallout 3 itself than Anchorage did, it's felt very short, consisting of only 2 small main areas and a very short story which really wasn't that surprising to me. If you have a melee weapons guy or unarmed you might like the rewards, and it also have a good energy weapon, but I think the power armor from Anchorhage was more useful.

It should be noted that earlier reviews smacked down on The Pitt due to it's bugs, but the only bug I encountered was a texture bug that might got fixed in 1.6. It made the skin of humanoids dark green, almost hulk-like, while the faces keep their original look. Also many of the NPC's got eyes that looked like blood, which I actually thought was part of the expansion but it wasn't.

Play The Pitt if you want more out of Fallout 3, but I would recommend having Broken Steel installed first.

Fallout 3 DLC 3. Broken Steel
Ok, now we talking. Broken Steel is the first DLC that feels like more than a short sidequest. Broken Steel takes place after the main quest of the original game (yes indeed). I won't give any spoilers here, but Broken Steel primary focus is on what happens after the character did what he/she did in the end of the original game. Much of the game will be a military campaign, but this is also the first expansion to have sidequests besides the "main quest" of the DLC.

There are seveal nice features in Broken Steel.
* It allows you to continue the game so you can actually finish the main quest before you go exploring the rest of the game (including the other DLC's).
* It extends the level cap with another 10 levels a long with new perks.
* It adds tougher enemies such as the Super Mutant Overlord.
* Unlike the first two you can both use all your items and your companions while playing the quest, meaning this is the one you want to play if you want to try out custom companion mods, or really get to use the new weapons/armor you found in the other DLC's.
* If you felt like me about the original ending, Broken Steel might be more satisfying to you.
* It's a lot longer than earlier DLC's.

Broken Steel basically feels like what should have been in Fallout 3 in the first place. Having said that, this is not really an expansion. There are more quests than in the first two DLC's, and the final part of the main quest takes place in a huge area with a new feel to it and loads of tough enemies that feels more challenging. Finally the new ending is more fulfilling than the ending of the earlier DLC's, and for some, even that of the original game. Overall Broken Steel is an epic continuation of the F3 story, but no Oscar.

Play Broken Steel if you want more out of Fallout 3. If you intend to play any of the DLC's, Broken Steel should probably be installed first. It's not the best of the expansions, but it is the most useful.

Fallout 3 DLC 4. Point Lookout
Best of the DLC's IMO. A ferry, the Duchess Gambit, appears down by the river, and allows the player to go to Point Lookout, an area that wasn't nuked, but abandoned. This new area feels very different to the rest of the game. Instead of capital wastelands you get an island with actual vegitation, trees and bushes. Some of it takes place in an actual forest/swamp. Point Lookout itself is a harbor to which you are taken by boat. On the island are a couple of mansions with inhabitants that you can help if you like, and you will eventually need to pick sides between two factions that aren't clear-cut good/evil. New enemies consists of smugglers, inbreeds and tribals. There are more quests and bonus content than the three earlier games, and much more to explore. Point Lookout is also pretty atmospheric and even borrows some horror elements inspired by HP Lovecraft.

Playing Point Lookout is basically about exploration of a new area, which is a refreshing change from the original game. In many ways I felt PL to be a reference to the exploration of Fallout 2 that also took place in a real wasteland, not just ruins. Then there's ofcourse the tribals which feels like a F2 reference. The new loot fits the theme of the expansion, with confederate hats and workman's coveralls, which you might not want to use as actual equipment but might be fun to wear. There's a few new and awesome rifles that really packs a punch and a very unique energy weapon, but no real armors.

Play Point Lookout if you want an atmospheric sidequest with somewhat better quests than the other DLC's. This fourth expansion is actually the first that make me want to see more DLC's that takes place in the real wastelands outside the ruins of the capital.

[nomadsoul]

Infamous = 9/10

Highly addictive, must play,right now best Sony exclusive gameplay wise. Loved direction,story and characters.


Prototype= 6

Got it for free from friend to try, extremely bad game, its even worse than web of shadows, got much better after 3 hours then again became repetitive, you practically gain evry move in the middle of game, repeated structure, after infamous this felt like total straight summer fun to slash and kill with last gen mission designs. So i left it, story was too bad for laugh but then it got extremely cliched. Visuals are bland, with lots of taxis and weird cardboard physics.



Redfaction=8.5/10

Must play, tight destruction system, good missions, creative vehicle designs, walkers missions are too much fun, destructibility engine is way cool, surprisingly good game. GTA in mars basically but loads too much. Story is nice too.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by Giligan

Resistance 2

I bought this along with Killzone 2 when I bought my PS3. Resistance 2 is an amazing game - at times the graphics have problems, and the boss battles can get a bit over the top, but otherwise it's a stellar game. The plot is really the game's best aspect. I really became a fan of the Resistance series before I had even played the game, on account of the plot.

The gameplay is straightforward, and it's a blast to play. Shooting through walls is just plain fun, and the slo-mo sniping is awesome.

hi Giligan, if you liked Resistance 2, try Resistance Fall of Man, the first one. It is a MUCH better game In my humble opinion- at least the single player portion.

[Giligan]

I'm actually in the middle of Fall of Man now. I like the 50's sci-fi vibe that Resistance 2 loses a bit. Besides that, though, it's good, definitely, but there was something awesome about the huge battles in Resistance 2 that Fall of Man can't match. The forest and swamp levels in particular were hugely entertaining to play through.

[TiAgUh]

Freedom Force

Pros
- Wacky, crazy and distinct heroes and villains
- Nice story, great voicework and music
- A perfect mix of RTS\RPG
- A great homage to the "Silver Age" of superhero comic books
- Lots of humor

Cons
- Save, load, save, load, save, load, save, lo... jesus!
- How can they miss right in front of the target? It gets annoying...
- Some attacks you'll never need to use

An incredibly enjoyable, fun, and involving adventure. 8 (almost 9) out of 10.