Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is a action/adventure title for the Playstation 3. Uncharted 2 has really proven that video games can be just as immersive as movies if not more. From the beautiful cut scenes to the very likable characters to the addictive gameplay, Uncharted 2 is one of the best games ever made.


Story - The story is comprised of many flash backs to the current time, to help tell the story from a very interesting way (which I loved). Drake is greeted by an old pal named Harry Flynn and ex-girlfriend Chloe Frazer. They propose a plan to steal a Mongolian oil lamp from an Istanbul museum, which Drake thinks is a clue to finding the Lost Fleet of Marco Polo. Drake soon realizes that he's being used and has to out run cops in order to escape the museum. You later meet up with old faces like Elena Fisher and Victor Sullivan, and Drake decides to go after the treasure before Harry Flynn gets his hands on it. So with some very interesting mystery solving and fast pace combat, this story becomes a very epic and fun adventure. The beautiful looking cut scenes really make you feel like part of Drakes world and do a fantastic job of story telling without being dragged on. I was very impressed with the story, don't want to spoil much but you won't be disappointed, it is truly an "A" worthy script.

Gameplay - Uncharted 2 is an action-adventure/ Third person shooter. It may feel a little like Gears of War, as UC2 also uses the cover system. You'll find yourself diving for cover to survive and hurdling to the next objective. However you may think it's like other third person shooters but it's much different with Drakes excellent climbing ability makes the scale incredible, you'll be swinging, jumping and climbing to basically wherever you want, the monkey like gameplay is very smooth and fluent, that just feels so perfect for what you need it to do. Not to mention it's super addicting climbing all over the place. The hand to hand combat will go into a 1 on 1 type feel, that you may counter moves as well as deliver. Their are plenty of weapons that should satisfy all killer needs.

Sound - The music in Uncharted is simply put "outstanding". It was one of the best soundtracks I ever heard, each piece of music was so beautifully put together to fit each part of the story which they did a excellent job at doing just that. It will make your heart race as they have some great chase music and such scenes.
The sound design was also a plus for this game, climbing from a broken train, to explosions to massive gun battles, each sound was very realistic and very convincing. It was precise and accurate and really brought you into the battle, especially with some nice surround sound system, which sounded amazing. I enjoyed every bit of it.
The voice acting was just out of this world. I felt like a was watching a movie most of the time, the actors were so convincing and were just perfect at their job. Actors like Nolan North (Drake), Steve Valentine (Harry Flynn) and Claudia Black (Chloe Frazer). They all did an excellent job and had me completely impressed the whole game.


Graphics -This game has some of the best graphics and animation you'll ever see. The graphics are outstanding and are true eye candy. Whether its gameplay footage or watching a cut scene, they all look amazing. This game was very well detailed. Textures are very well done and really come to life. It shows that the creators put a lot of time in to this game. The water is just unreal in Uncharted. It looks amazing. They even have a "wet" effect if you will. What I mean is that when you jump into a pool of water your clothes will look like their soaked (because they are!) very realistic and looks really cool. The levels were very well detailed, from running away from a helicopter to falling off a train. This game is "easy on the eyes" simply put, it is beautiful. The design of the levels were really good, plenty of room to explore and it all looks great. The lighting effects look amazing, every glimmer and shade is very realistic. Sun beams peaking their holes in the roof were just something else.
The animation is another goody for this game. It is very fluent and smooth and both gameplay and cut scenes are phenomenal. The wind blowing the leaves and the physics of this game truly show that Naughty Dog knows exactly what its doing and does it extremely well. You'll notice things like hair blowing, leaves and building crumpling right beneath your feat and it all looks great, the animation is just so smooth and there is not a complaint to be had here. They did a excellent job with the graphics and there is no two ways about it.

Multiplayer - You may not see this game as a multiplayer type game at all (which is what I thought), but let me just say, that the multiplayer may just be one of the most addicting yet, I was so surprised on how much fun this was, with plenty of upgrades, skins and perks to buy, with a leveling system, this will keep you busy for a long time, I strongly recommend this to anyone, it's fun, well made and has plenty of DLC and weekly updates called "The Lab" which let's players try new game modes such as "All shotguns" or "Rockets only" and many more.

Final Rundown - What this all comes down to is that, this game is almost flawless, there may be a few things you may pick at but it would be mostly personal preference. I however could not find anything that really pissed me off or I felt was a con. This is a fantastic game and truly deserved all those Game of the year awards.

+Pro's

• Epic Story
• Rememorable characters
• Fantastic Voice acting
• Addicting and fluent gameplay
• Outstanding Soundtrack

Review Score - 10

Epic Mickey

                                                

Epic Mickey is a plat....RPG...well, it's a lot of things put into one game. Best way I can describe it is the choices that effect your story line, remind me of Mass Effect and the platforming was kinda like Banjo. Never the less it's an amazing game that I admire a lot. Warren Spector did a fantastic job with this great use of Disney license. After reading some poor reviews I was a little disappointed, but I gave it a try anyways, and I could not believe how much fun I had playing this game, from the soundtrack to the gameplay to the level design I was blown away.


Story - The story starts out with Mickey getting out of bed and jumping through his mirror which acts like a portal, he finds himself in the quarters of Yen Sid, who is working on a world for forgotten characters called "Wasteland". Yen Sid decides to call it a night, so Mickey snoops on over to Yen Sid's work, and ends up spilling thinner all over the world, not only destroying Yen Sid's creation but created a monster known as "The Blot", Mickey is pulled into Wasteland by The Blot and that's where the adventure begins. The story was pretty deep for a Disney game, it had some deep moments that really pulled you into the game, it also truly shows who this characters are and really makes you feel for them. While you choose which way the story will pan out, every decision you make changes everything, I was actually surprised on how much a simple choice changed the way the game played out, and really changed the ending. It was a very need concept, and I really enjoy games with morality choices and Epic Mickey is one of the best at it. You'll come along many forgotten characters such as Oswald, but also some familiar faces. Wasn't the best written story I ever witnessed but it was for sure a goody, I had a great time with it.

Gameplay - A lot of people seemed to have some trouble, on which genre this game falls under. The best way to describe it is what I said early, it's an Open-world, platforming game with some RPG elements. The gameplay itself was a lot of fun, only downside was the camera. You use the d-pad to change the angle of the camera and it just feels clunky, the camera does its best to follow Mickey but falls short of a "good camera". But the bad camera didn't suck the fun out of the game at all. The use of Paint and Thinner was such a creative idea and was so much fun to mess around with. I was very surprised on how much you could destroy with the thinner, you can basically use it anytime, now there are some things you can't erase but not too worry because there are plenty of things to destroy and re-create once again which felt very original and very addicting. Platforming was great but not perfect due to camera issues but, to be honest I really did not have too much trouble with the camera. Bottom line for the gameplay is that it's great and very addictive.


Sound - Whether you're talking about the sound effects or soundtrack, they were both very well done, sound effects suited the game for what it was (A Mickey Mouse game). The soundtrack was actually one of my favorites of the year, I really enjoyed it, and I'm dying to own a copy, it was very original and each track was perfect for each level and story element that occurred in the game.

Graphics - Epic Mickey is a beautifully designed game, the art design in this world is just outstanding. They did a great job with the dark and depressing atmosphere, with a nice addition to some happy colorful side-scrolling levels. All side-scrolling takes place when Mickey jumps inside an old cartoon like Steam Boat Willy for example, and it looks amazing. The levels really caught my interest, I just love the way they were designed. The graphics, although SD and not as "shiny" as PS3/360, it looks very good especially for a Wii title. I played with the Wii HD cables and it looked sharp, graphics are not anything that will rock your socks off, but the very well done artistic level design and characters is just very cool, and I was very impressed with the look of this game.

Final Rundown - Although the platforming may get on your bad side, due too a clunky camera and the Wii with it's no HD and achievements is always a downer for Wii games. But this game was so much fun and so gripping that I did not mind one bit. I was so glad I purchased it, because I intend on playing it many more times.

+Pro's:

• Choices have a great effect on the world.
• Paint & Thinner are an excellent new game mechanic.
• Many familiar and lovable Disney characters and worlds.
• Side-scrolling through old cartoons was a blast!.
• Great Soundtrack.

-Con's:

• Horrible camera.
• no HD for this beautiful game.

Review Score: 8.5

Call of Duty Black Ops (PS3)

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a follow up to one of the best selling games of all time, "Modern Warfare 2" which sold approximately 4.7 million units in the USA & UK in the first 24 hours of it's launch, MW2 was developed by Infinity Ward.

 Black Ops which was developed by Treyarch, has taken that a step further and sold over 10 million copies within it's 24 hour launch. Making it one of the best selling games of all time.

Black Ops takes place during the Cold War, having you perform "Black Operations" which is(too make it simple) really super secret missions that no one knows about, technically you don't even exist.




Story - The single player takes a bit of a different approach than the other COD's. Meaning it's more story driven now, with plenty of twists and turns.

You play as a man named Alex Mason, who is currently in a small room with lots of computers, your basically disoriented as your being interrogated from a unknown man, you only hear his voice which is morphed to protect his identity. As your being interrogated you see many different numbers flashing on the screen, you sometimes hear a women recite the numbers, over and over not knowing why yet. Too make a long story short, whoever this is, they need information on your past Black Operations, and for reasons not known they want the origin of those numbers that you can't seem to get out of your head.

As you tell them all about your past operations, flash backs will occur and this is where the gameplay takes over. You arrive in 1968 taking on many different operations. What it comes down too is the main antagonist "Nikita Dragovich" is your main target, a man named Viktor Renov (who becomes close friends with you) tells you that this man must die. The gameplay is the best so far in my opinion, it's a little more like a story based FPS then just a run & gun military shooter, which plays out nice. There are many action sequences like previous COD's that keep it interesting, many fast paced chases and fire battles that keep you on your toes.

The story although not great, has some good twists and turns, which was pretty neat coming from a military shooter. Not the best story driven game but def a good start to one, I actually enjoyed it a lot.


Sound - There is not too much too say about the music, as far as military based shooters go, it suits the mood. Every tune from a suspenseful moment, to a epic battlefield, it stood out very nicely.
The music is not something I would go nuts for like I would say FF13 or Beyond good & evil, but it adds a nice touch too each and every level.
As far as sound effects though I don't think they could have been better, every sound was so realistic, that if you play with surround sound, you would swear that you were in Alex masons shoes.
Voice acting was very well done with cast members like Gary Oldman, Ed Harris and Sam Worthington, all did a fantastic job. Even with ice cube which I'm still scratching my head on why on earth was he was a cast member in this game, they all had a top notch performance. The one that stood out for me was Gary Oldman who is one of my favorite actors of all time, he display such skill and profession in his work I really hope he wins something for his role as Viktor Reznov.


Gameplay - The gameplay was the best out of the COD series with very smooth frame rate, it was a blast too play. The aiming was nice and sturdy, and felt pretty freakin sweet to nail head shots or to knife someone in the back. Although the buttons did not differ from the other COD games but they did have a few tweaks like for example, when you sprint you can hold circle(B, button) you dive onto the ground which adds some nice dodging strats for single and multiplayer. Some new weapons and many familiar ones such as the Famas, AK-74 and the Uzi. Same choice of grenades such as flash and stun. Bottom line is that the gameplay although didn't improve much from MW2 but it's still a improvement and I had so much fun with it and was content with the gameplay.


Multiplayer - Now the part that everyone has been waiting for.
You might be thinking that the multiplayer of last years Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 will be almost impossible to top. But it seems that Black Ops takes the cake with it's outstanding multiplayer. I feel this is exactly where the multiplayer should be. They have done a much better job with the balance, not perfect I add but it is better. It's not as chaotic as MW2 was, and I like that a lot, seems like they give the non-hardcore players more of a chance to win this time around. Of course the big change in the multiplayer is the Micro transaction system that Black Ops has started. Win matches, kills, assists, and many different challenges, give you what they call "COD Points" which is actually pretty neat, I have really been enjoying the currency system and the way it works, makes the challenges even more worth doing, and to be honest is pretty freakin addicting to collect COD Points. They have also added new modes on the behalf of the Currency system, called "Wager Matches" which is a way for you and your friends to bet on matches and try and rack up some dough to buy many more things, it's very fun and the game modes are very well done, not only Wager matches but all of them. With the MW2 modes plus a ton more, this multiplayer gives the biggest replay value in a game I've seen in a long time.


Final Rundown - Truth is, I was not looking forward to Black Ops, I was sick of the yearly COD's. But I must say I am impressed, with a fairly interesting story and a very long lasting multiplayer (which btw is there best multiplayer yet, by far). i was very happy I decided to give it a chance. Any FPS players out there that love some good multiplayer, give Black Ops a shot, you won't be let down.






+Pros:
-Good Ending.
-Outstanding Gameplay.
-Almost perfect Multiplayer.
-Zombie Mode.
-Tons of customization during online play.

-Cons:
-Not too much innovation.
-Ice Cube is in the main cast.
-Story can be a little cliche at some points.






Review Score -9.0