Sunday, September 8, 2013

Want to Play Hunting Game Playing Cabala in PSN


I love this idea that hunters have superpowers. Like they’re freaking Spider-Man or something. Wait what—do I smell a deer nearby? BOOM. Now I have x-ray vision. Its Cabala’s Hunting Expeditions for the PlayStation 3.So there was once a time I played a game called Cabala’s African Safari and it was basically like the realistic cousin of Cabala’s Dangerous Hunts. Although in this case, “realistic “is relative to a game in which you can slaughter 37 animals a second. An impressive display of killing, to be sure. That was, like...I don’t know. Years ago, for the PlayStation 2.

 But it was actually decent hunting game, and I mention it because this game reminds me of it. Hunting Expeditions follows the same basic idea. It just does it better. So if you’re familiar with Dangerous Hunts, forget it. Hunting Expeditions is nothing like it. There are no on-rails shooting galleries...no demon bears. Instead, this is more like stealth game. In fact, it’s kind of like Metal Gear Solid, only with fewer cardboard boxes and shorter cut scenes.

You sneak through the wilderness, you hunt your pray...you shoot them from a safe distance with a weapon that kills them instantly. You man, you. The game features 15 different environments across North America and Africa, and for the most part, they provide a diverse hunting experience. Plenty of varied topography to consider and use to your advantage, nice settings...although, I mean, it’s always North American and Africa.

What if I want to go hunt in Australia? Somebody has to stop the god*man wallabies. They could have anything in those pouches. Fortunately for the world, the wildlife doesn’t stand a chance against you and your superpowers. You can use your hunter sense not only to see where the animals are located, but also the best places to take the shot. So it’s basically like you have this biological radar of death. They have antlers. Once you plan your attack, you have to carry it out with stealth and firepower. You can upgrade your weapons using points earned during the hunt, so the better you are...the more you can improve your guns and the more you can unlock.

Is it as fun as Dangerous Hunts? No, probably not. But if you’re looking for a game that’s little more down to Earth, this one delivers. I’m not sure how realistic it is, given the death radar. But if you want a slower paced game that rewards you for setting up good kill, Cabala’s Hunting Expeditions is like a solid double-lung shot. Whatever that means.

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Thursday, September 5, 2013

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 2 for Xbox 360

Call of Duty seems to be the biggest game series on the planet. With Black Ops 2 the series is actually evolving. This is the first time since Call of Duty4 that the series is trying new things. Most of them work quite well, for now lets take look at the campaign. Spanning two time periods and multiple locales, Black Ops 2's storyline is quite strong. Thesis honestly the first truly engaging storyline that the series has offered.

The characters are memorable, well written, and the voice acting is of the finest quality. The missions feature a variety of objectives and large scale set pieces. During some of the new strike force missions, the game also has multiple outcomes. The strike force missions is the largest change in the series, these are somewhat real time strategy and combat oriented levels. There are interesting and can be failed.

 They offer a unique style of game play. However felt that while these missions were fun, they ultimately slowed the pace of the game. The main missions feature some great story and game play elements, high tech firefights, and epic scenes of combat on horseback. The campaign has a ton of great moments and has the makings of one of the best shooter son the market. However it suffers from one large problem, the gunplay is very weak.

 Weapons have no real weight or recoil when fired. For some this may not be a huge detractor. But for me, it made the frequent firefights somewhat dull. Granted the game does make up for the surprisingly weak gunplay with fantastically staged set pieces that are far more interactive than previous games. Luckily the game manages to overcome the rough gunplay. Thanks to the fast paced shootouts. Let me say that the combat is in no way bad. But for a flagship first person shooter,

I feel that it should have been far more satisfying. This is the best looking game in the franchise, textures are clean, and the world is full of detail and polish. The series has never been known for outstanding visuals; however that changes with this release. Moving onto the hallmark of the Black Ops series is Zombies. Yes zombies mode is back, with more levels weapons and the sense of humor that we have come to expect from the series.



Few things were changed while everything was tweaked and refined. Rounding out the package is the trademark multiplayer, firstly if you have never liked Call of Duty online Black Ops 2 will not change your mind. It’s more of the same. However it has been dialed in. Combat feels better here than in the campaign. There are plenty of weapons, modes, and maps. For the most part it's what we have come to expect. But one nice change and the most noticeable, is that there are larger maps.

 The levels are frankly far better made than ever before. Leveling up is still fun and rewarding, threes plenty of game play modes, and tons of weapons and content. Black Ops 2 is a great game and this is coming from someone that has a love hate relationship with the series.

It's a well made game and has some very high production values. Improvements were made were they were needed most. The campaign has been overhauled and is a rousing experience. Multiplayer is still fun and has some wonderful maps to play on. It’s not hard to say that this is the best game in the series since 4. It falls just short of being an incredible game. All the parts are there, however I could not help but feel blah about the combat. Still the game controls well and even though the combat was weak Black Ops 2 is still one hell of a game. I could pick the gunplay apart. But the end of the day, this was a very enjoyable experience.



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Thursday, August 29, 2013

How Engaging Exactly is Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Xbox Is?

One might assume that deeply personal and captivating single-player experiences are dying out. It’s easy to think this way when we live in a world saturated with first-person Xbox games about shooting where campaigns continue to grow shorter and have superficial multiplayer tacked-on as a crutch in an attempt to elongate or cling to relevance. Well, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is here to take a stand and let the gaming world know that amazing single-player experiences are still here and very-much alive. This stand begins surprisingly with a lot remaining the same since the gates of Oblivion were closed. Much like its predecessors, you can still look through every nook and cranny, you still have a gigantic world to explore, horses are still all-terrain vehicles and you still kill enemies and strip them down to their unmentionables.

But for how much that has remained, even more has changed; most notably with character creation and customization. As in Oblivion, there are still the traditional Elder Scrolls races of Argonian, Nord, Dark Elf, and so on. The difference being that during character creation is that you no longer choose from primary and secondary skill attributes or a birth sign. Now, that might sound like it’s missing all the character customization and RPG elements you care about; but it’s not.

Those elements are still in the Xbox game, they’ve just been changed a bit. Like birth signs for example, are placed around the open-world on stone obelisks; one can be activated at a time for specific beneficial effects, or some birth signs from previous Elder Scrolls can simply be found in the skill trees as a perk. Perks points are distributed to benefit specific disciplines; like improving weapon damage or lowering the cost to cast spells. Perks have also made previously broken or intangible gameplay styles either much more fun or impressively realized. Like the ability to take a breath to slowdown time and zoom-in with a bow or huge damage multiplayer for daggers; making the previously mundane weapon-type extremely lethal. To acquire perk points you have to level up.
As is accustomed in the Elder Scrolls franchise, level increases come with practicing and honing abilities through their usage, not with experience points. So, if you want to be a great blacksmith, then go hit the forges.

You want to have crazy lightning spells, and then get all Darth Hideous on some faces. Just as in real life you get better at stuff the more you do it. Now more than ever, with the use of the vastly improved dual-wielding system, you can hone multiple skills simultaneously. The system allows a weapon to be clenched in each fist or a healing spell in one hand while frost flies from the other. The play-styles and character customization are very malleable which really pronounces the attitude The Elder Scrolls series hasalways tried to express, which the idea of open-endedness is.



The ideals of being an open-ended experience don’t stop at character customization and combat, your gaming freedoms are also ingrained in the very way you go about taking your created character through the land of Skyrim to reveal the legend of the Dragon born. The legend, of which, is tied directly into that combat and adventuring. In Skyrim, you are the Dragon born; the mortal with the blood of dragons who is able to kill the great winged serpents and absorb their souls to perform powerful shouts. These shouts do more than just tie into the story however. As they’re obtained, shouts allow a range of new abilities like spanning gaps previously inaccessible or tearing dragons down from the sky. With the way shouts become part of the adventure in addition to gameplay; this is easily Bethesda’s best main storyline to date; making the narrative feel fully realized and less of an afterthought. Really, all the content in general is superior to previous entries; could seriously write a review for every major story arch in the Xbox game. Like, the Thieves’ Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, the Mage’s College, the many different Demi-God quests with the Daedric Princes, the school for the Bards or the Civil War brewing over religious suppression; Skyrim is simply a lively nation filled with substance and a countless amount of fruitful endeavors to become part of in a beautiful land to do it. Throughout Skyrim’s entirety, developer Bethesda has really found a harmony of design choices that all coalesce into a single, united identity of gameplay, art and execution.

From the way the main story is filled with metaphor of how powerful speech and language can be which is then tied into the gameplay through shouts as the dragon born shapes the nation of Skyrim with a powerful voice, to the beautifully foreign structures of a Gothic and Viking stylization that populate the landscapes, to the very way the music meshes with harmonious harp strings that are complimented by a primal Viking choir; every aspect of Skyrim brings all its ideas and intentions together to create an individual experience that becomes the player’s unique world. Simply put: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the greatest single-player role-playing games ever created. You shouldn’t miss it.