Dungeon Defenders Review

Dungeon Defenders does one thing right straight from the very beginning. It combines the awe of fantasy games, such as the look and feel of World of Warcraft, and the likes of the best Tower Defense games. It combines the two with such beauty.
A tower defense game is guarding a base with towers, using strategy to keep them up and running to protect your base. Like most tower defense games, Dungeon Defenders breaks down the gameplay into two stages: the setup phase and the attack phase. During the setup phase, the player takes control of a character, one of four different types, and goes out to set up structures to protect the valuable crystal everyone wants. Signs tell you how many enemies there are going to be, which helps greatly when planning the attacks. If the player loses the crystal, it's game over. While players can heal themselves and repair towers, healing the crystal is almost a no go so be careful.
In the second phase, the enemies are released. This is where the game completely flips onto its head. Unlike most tower defense games, this one allows the player to keep control of the character and unleash hell on the enemies. It allows such decisions as saving the towers to help the defense or going all out on the enemy. One wrong move, and it could be game over.
Between waves, the player can switch between classes. There is the Apprentice, who cases offensive spells from a distance and more. There is also the Squire, who attacks with swords and traps. If that doesn't work out, one could always become the Huntress, who is a basically a thief with traps and one wicked crossbow. The final class to pick is the Monk, who does monk stuff such as healing. Everyone loves a good Monk, right?
As each map becomes conquered, the player levels up their character, granting new abilities and gathering more health. New towers are also unlocked. The point system adds a whole new depth to tower defense games. Players can chose how they want their charector to be, and not with just a preset set of skills.
The single-player campaign is pretty decent, with 13 missions. Each mission also has its rewards, increasing its replayablity. Difficulty can also be raised, which also grants bigger and more satisfying rewards.
It's clear, however, that the primary focus of the game is co-op. Later on in the campaign, the missions become almost impossible to finish alone. However, the game does offer splitscreen co-op of up to three friends. Having friends in this game helps immensely, as everyone can be their own class with their own skills.

The graphics, which are run on Unreal, aren't the best looking, but it works. The levels are polished and the cell-shaded graphics give out the fantasy feel. The music is also great, but drags on in a few places. The voice acting could have used a little work, but it isn't too terrible.
The story is one of my biggest grips about the game. The adults leave, children unleash evil that was locked away. Blah blah blah. It was an issue for me, seeing as a story is very important to me. However, the gameplay and coop definately make up for the storyline.
Besides the story and audio, the only other thing that I didn't like was the controls. Dungeon Defenders on the iOS was perfect in terms of controls. The game actually surprised me how well it worked with just two fingers. However, with a console controller, some of the menus are just downright horrible, making navigating horrible. Plus, with the way the button scheme is, it makes finding what you want to do even worse. Also, while you can rotate the camera around your character horizontally, the only control you have over its vertical alignment is to choose from several zoom levels. Also, what was up with the auto-tragetting? Seeing as this is now on consoles and pc, that feature should be improved or even removed. With a huge line of enemies heading my way, I want to be able to chose which one i want to take out. I don't want to kill five bad guys to get to the big guy, who has already made it past everything and is on a crash course for my crystal!
While the game did have a few flaws, it's a great example of how far the tower-defense genre can go. With great gameplay mechanics, solid graphics, and co-op that will entertain for days, it's a buy in my book.
It also makes for a good substitute until Plants vs. Zombies 2 arrives.

Score:
8/10

Infamous 2: Festival of Blood gets Zeke laid and Cole sucking

New Marais changed a lot since I last visited this summer. It’s darker. Everyone is either getting staked or turning into demons. A crazy lady wants revenge. InFamous 2 blew us all away. Sucker Punch Productions takes that success and puts a twist on it. Cole as a vampire, anyone?

Festival of Blood has the same feel to it. It has the climbing, the electric powers, the gorgeous graphics, and more. It, however, takes away the moral choice system. It was done away for a good reason. Sucker Punch wanted to experiment. See what Cole will do to save New Marais and himself, even if that means sucking the blood of a few innocent civilians.

Festival of Blood takes place in alternate timeline, unlike Undead Nightmare in Red Dead Redemption which took place in between time periods. The game opens up with Zeke Dunbar sitting at a bar. Right from the start, Sucker Punch throws in a fast one and for the first time: Zeke doesn’t have his world famous glasses on. That right there got me hooked. Zeke, in an attempt to seduce a woman, recounts a tale from his past. One that included the famous (or infamous) Cole McGrath. Cole’s blood was used to bring back to life the Blood Mary, a vampire leader of sorts. Cole has until sunrise to figure out what is wrong or he’ll be stuck as a vampire forever. It’s shortly after it begins that you feel that Zeke may be telling the truth. However, it is Zeke we are talking about. He would say anything to get into a lady’s pants.

The game starts you off right away with all the basic powers we have grown to love: grenades, melee, rockets, everything. Instead of using experience points to unlock new levels, you unlock upgrades for doing certain things. I got sidetracked from the main storyline just because I wanted to suck the blood out of every living soul I came across. It does a brilliant job at making you feel accomplished for something you do. Also, as one progresses, you will come to find the new vampire powers everyone has been waiting for. There are only a few, but they are sure glorious. Shadow Swarm turns you into a flying army of bats, capable of getting to the highest of places in an instant. I hope something similar finds itself into InFamous 2. Vampire Vision also appears, giving Cole the ability to find vampires hidden in the crowd. Neat.

The only grip about this game is that the enemies can be a tad bit on the annoying side. Also, the fact that you somehow have to be closer to electric sources to gather electricity threw me for a loop. That might just be me, so I’m not downgrading the game for that.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a Move so I’m unable to play it with the new Move  controls, but it’s something I would love to get my hands on and try.

The game takes about 2-3 hours if you don’t get sidetracked. If you do everything in the game, it will put your gamer clock at around 5-6 hours. There is, however, new UGC (User Created Content) that is available which puts the game at a total of 8 hours. For the $7.50 price tag for being a Playstation Plus user and only a dollar more for non-Plus users, it’s worth every penny. Cole being a vampire gathers one’s attention as it is. What more do I need to say?

Score:

9/10

Grand Theft Auto III: The Game That Shaped My Life

When Grand Theft Auto III came out, I was only 10 years old. I had a PS1, which I played very little. It was for kids. Nothing truly amazing happened on it. I begged my mother for weeks to upgrade to the PS2, but we just didn’t have the money. I knew that GTA III coming out soon and that it was something special. I knew that it would have some impact on the world. I wanted to know what. I wanted it to affect me, like it would countless others.
My mother finally broke down. Despite it being the first game truly designed for the likes of adults, she wanted to get it. She wanted me to be happy so when I came home one day from school, the day GTA III was to be released, she told me that we were going to Wal-mart to get it. I flipped. I remember that after I heard the news, I went outside and cried. Sad, isn’t it? That it was all because of a game? Whatever it was, I’m just glad I was getting it.
I came home a few hours later with a bag. In it held a Playstation 2, GTA III, and a controller. I pushed my siblings aside, unplugged everything, and set it right up. When Rockstar’s logo came onto the screen, I cried for the second time that day. I knew I was in love.
I became obsessed. I could not rest until I had every secret package, every mission complete. I wanted that 100% so badly. Hours of my life was spilled into that game. I completed everything. When I finished the ambulance missions, I gained infinite sprint. The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming.
The depth captured me. The day/night cycle, the weather, the chatter between pedestrians, the random crimes, everything. Want a tank? Go blow some stuff up, get the army to chase you, then steal it. Driving around in the tank made you seem like a God. Want to blow up some cars? Put a blockade on the bridge, allow the cars to gather, then fire all rockets! It was truly something to behold.

I think that was the point in my life that things changed. Video games, from that moment on, were to be a huge part of my life. From there, I went on to play every major video game that was previously released. I played Socom, Black, Silent Hill, Shadow of the Colossus, Bully, the Burnout series, Twisted Metal Black, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 4, and more. I got a Gamecube, an Atari, and a Nintendo 64. I went out to get a PC, never having one before,  so I could play the likes of Diablo, Half-Life, and Doom. I later became more involved in the PC, learning everything I could so that I could potentially make the games that I loved so much. When the Xbox 360 and PS3 was announced, I was in a frenzy. A whole new generation of games to play! I didn’t have much money at the time so I had to chose which console I wanted. I got an Xbox 360. From there, I got Gears of War, Bioshock, and others. I went on to play every major game for the 360, my collection growing larger with each passing week. It continued from there to where I am today. I have played almost every major game, as well as countless small time ones, that has ever been released. I may not have started back in the day like some did, but I made up for it greatly.
Part of what fueled my fire was the 360 achievements. Since my days of GTA III, I was hocked on doing everything the game offered. Finding the Easter eggs, doing all the missions, getting to that 100% mark. I wasn’t satisfied until I did everything. I think those days is what helped fuel my love for achievements. I am obsessed with them. I hate renting games purely for the fact that I have a limited amount of time to do everything. This, however, is a entirely different story.
GTA III had the biggest impact of me gaming-wise. Other games were also inspirational, such as Shadow of the Colossus, but not as much as GTA III. I was right from the very beginning, however. It did change the world. It was a huge leap in the game industry. One that has lasted for a decade. With GTA III’s anniversary come and gone, it has helped me realize why my life the way it is. Thank you, Rockstar.

Battlefield 3 Review: Console Review

Battlefield 3 is going head to head with Call of Duty, the king of first-person shooters it seems. Battlefield may not take the throne, but it tries its best to.

Single Player:

The story begins with Sergeant Blackburn being interrogated by two CIA agents. Blackburn claims that terrorists are going to attack New York City. Like a lot of war movies, the agents of course don’t believe him. They make him recount the events that lead him there. The game starts from there, taking you to Iraq, France, New York, and more.

The storyline very much resembles what Call of Duty has done already. It switches between two soldiers, who are both chasing after Soloman, the villain in the story. However, by the end of the game, you still don’t really know how  bad the villian really is. He isn’t in the campaign much, nor does he do anything truly bad. The story is very generic. There are a few great set-pieces, such as co-piloting a jet, but that’s it. You don’t have any attachment to the characters, nor do you really know what the objective is until you fail the mission a few times to get the hint. It’s just your average FPS campaign: very generic.

It takes about 5-6 hours to finish it. If you are good enough, you can easily knock that time down and finish it in one sitting. The campaign barely qualifies to rent.

Multiplayer:

This is the real reason for buying this game. Call of Duty has always been very arcadey, one of the major reasons why I don’t like it. The other reason is a very different matter all together. However, back to the subject at hand. Battlefield has a more realistic approach to it. There are different kits and guns for each class, large maps, vehicles, and destructive environments. There are almost countless ways to go for an objective.

Starting with the kits, players have the ability to chose from four different kits: Assault, Recon, Engineer, and Support. Each has their own unique weapons, as well as ones gathered from just leveling up. Each class does something different. Assault are healers as well as the average solider, Engineers fix and take down vehicles such as tanks and jets, Support supply ammo as well as carry the heavy guns, and Recon is the sniper class and spawn point setter. With a squad being one of each of these classes, you can make an unstoppable force.

Vehicle warfare is one of the best things about the Battlefield series, which sets it off from Call of Duty in a big way. Tanks are a unstoppable force if not taken care of properly. Helicopters are also avaible, capable of getting across the large battlefields within seconds. There are also jets, which are downright awesome. The only downside to them are the controls, but they are made purposely hard so it helps balance out the game.

There are your standard modes in multiplayer. Team deathmatch, rush, capture the flag, etc. Rush is one of the favorites of the game, as well as the most challenging. It requires a skilled team to hold off people.

This game sets itself apart from Call of Duty in a number of ways. It takes more skill, as the game has a lot more depth to it. Battlefield isn’t one for a pick up and play like Call of Duty, requiring way more concentration and focus to pay attention to what’s around you. Matches can last for as much as 30 minutes. It requires strategy almost the entire match as well as teamwork. If there is no teamwork, you will lose.

Conclusion:

This game is what everyone was hoping for. Great online, excellent visuals, and some of the most impressive sound effects I have ever heard. The game requires an HD texture pack to install if on the Xbox, but it is worth it. It’s to be expected with how far we are in the consoles life cycle. The only downside I had to this game was the campaign, which was complete fail. For that, I have to give it a lower score then what I would have liked. The online itself should get a 10/10.

Score:

8/10

Gaming for Charity for 24 Hours, Livestream.

I'll be playing for 24 hours straight today to help donate for charity. I have always wanted to do something for a good cause, and now I can! The event will be streamed all day long so go ahead and watch my mistakes.

The link to donate is here! Any donations would be appreciated!
Click to donate to charity!

Click to watch my mistakes!