Stolen as a child, molested, tortured and injected with all types of experimental enhancements, Jack’s life has been one tragedy after another. As a little girl she was the focus subject of an illegal human experiment to create the ultimate biotic machine. Her enhancements came at the sacrifice of many young victims, her procedures were painfully inhumane and her mind was brought to the brink of insanity as she suffered the rigors of being a lab rat. It all ended when she saw a break and used her biotic powers to massacre her torturers and fellow inmates alike on her way out of the lab.

Jack’s escape left her at the mercy of pirates, who gladly raped and used her young body in exchange for passage to Omega, where she enlisted with extremely violent street gangs before joining a cult (as you can see she kept the haircut). After the cult Jack took part in mercenary work, illegal enterprises and mass murder which landed her on a prison ship where she was cryogenically frozen to save the guards from her biotic wrath. When she meets Shepard, he is rescuing her from the prison in order to have her join his suicide mission. She is a raving lunatic, angrier than a pissed off scorpion, and deadlier than a ticking time bomb. But Shepard calms her, and she joins his team, with one price -- Shepard has to take her to the old lab in which she was tortured, in order for her to blow it to pieces.

Relationship and First Impressions

To say Jack is complicated is so much of an understatement that it doesn’t warrant an answer. Jack is dangerous, she hates people, hates Cerberus and of all people on the ship she hates Miranda who she refers to as a “Cerberus Bitch”. Placing the two in the same room would yield deadly results as Jack’s mouth combined with Miranda’s ego would guarantee an event. Both being godly Biotics in their own right, you would find yourself floating and crashing into walls as these two go for each other’s throats. Jack hates everything about Cerberus, and for good reason since it was Cerberus that was behind the lab that made her childhood hell.

Romantically Jack is a hard nut to crack (no pun intended), years of betrayal combined with survivor’s guilt from a past lover’s sacrifice makes her keep Shepard at arm’s length. She does appreciate him coming all the way down to engineering to chat her up however, and though she shuns human contact, his forced niceness makes her suspicious at first asking “what do you want, sex?” To which answering positively could lead to her giving you a quickie in order to get you out of her face and out of her life. Refusing the quickie confuses her and she begins to wonder why it is that you like her and she calls you a weirdo for it. After some time Jack drops the defenses a tad and tells Shepard that his weird persistence actually turns her on. She wants him but doesn’t know how to go about it out of fear of having her heart broken again.

After telling Shepard that she needs some time to think it over, Jack visits him in his quarters with tear-stricken face, unsure on how to surrender her feelings to him. Of all the women in Mass Effect 2, Jack turned out to be quite rewarding as a love interest being that Shepard literally takes her from unstable to a passionately loyal and powerful, biotic girlfriend.

Hot or Not? What About The Looks?

If you want a banging body then you need to holler at Miranda, her body is perfect and if she had a different face she would be unavoidable by any hot-blooded male. Jack is the beauty in the game, as in take her face off and put it on Miranda’s body and you would have what I just described in the first sentence. She is also a weird juxtaposition of psycho killer and angry girl who likes to look pretty through make-up. Jack’s body is 90% covered in tattoos and she has a shaved head -- yet she takes time to slap on mascara, eyeliner and sexy red lipstick.

Were I to pick an actress to play Jack I would go with Keira Knightley from Pirates of The Carribean and King Arthur, the character’s face and expressions reminded me very much of her and just like Jack she’s a facially striking woman with a slight little body.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

When you play Castlevania SotN, the graphics, music and movement were so well done you felt special playing it and when you destroyed a boss by pulling off a successful half circle back and button combination combo, it felt like an accomplishment. Add to this the difficulty curve and you have what at the time was considered to be a perfect platformer. Not a dull moment to be had as you jump, whip, hack and slash your way through Dracula’s castle only pausing to purchase a familiar here and there or a new potion to try out on an unlucky undead. This was one of those games that made you feel lucky to have experienced and it makes me want to play just writing about it.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

As a passionate lover of the Mass Effect Universe, I will try my best to keep this review short and sweet. Easier said than done but I will do it damn it, so help me! Anyway, Mass Effect 2 takes up where the original Mass Effect left off and sends Commander Shepard into a new adventure with a new crew and a new boss calling the shots. Of all the great enhancements, fixes and changes made to the game engine, graphics and playstyle, my absolute favorite would have to be what was done to the Normandy itself. The new ship that you command is absolutely beautiful and the way the story flows through you find yourself getting attached to her the way a captain should be attached to his vessel. It helped that Tricia Helfer voiced the A.I. for the Normandy as Caprica 6 (her character on Battlestar Galactica) whispering commands to me at the helm is always a welcome fantasy. Damn It Bioware why wasn’t the Normandy a romance option!?

A FEW of The Things I loved About Mass Effect 2
Aside from that guy off to the right – who was my favorite, I loved all of the characters onboard the Normandy. The character models have been given a bump since the first installment, the textures make the first game look like Super Mario Bros. and there is this Boss Bitch of an Asari in a space station named Omega that made me want to live in Shepard’s world. This is just the icing on the cake as the combat has been given an overhaul favoring a more precise over-the-shoulder style of play combined with a button to do cool things like vault over obstacles, sprint and crouch to avoid fire. The AI has been given a huge boost, making you really notice your fellow crewmen in battle as they do their thing. As an example of this, the new Krogan “Grunt” was one of my favorite characters to fight alongside since my cover fire would lead to his big ass running into the frey scattering bodies… awesome.

Each one of your team has a detailed and super-interesting background to them, and part of the fun was sitting with them during the off times to learn more about their past and what makes them tick. The relationship element from Mass Effect 1 is back in the sequel but with more variety if you’re straight. Unlike Dragon Age Origins, Bioware didn’t throw the GBLT community many choices in this one. It seemed being a straight male would net you more sack time than playing any other sex or orientation. Remember the MAKO? Well it has been replaced with a shuttle and more immersive form of exploration. Dropping probes, space mining and even flying the Normandy have been completely redone and it is a lot more fun to do these things.

What I DisLiked
Okay… Bioware, please take a look at the character development and interaction that you provided for us in Dragon Age Origins. Study up on why people like myself were hopelessly addicted to it and why we continue to play it even after beating it three times… I’m such a loser. The point I am making is that LINEAR = BAD, FORMULAS = BAD, give us more dynamic conversation with the crew and make their likes/dislikes vary to the point where I can’t just look at them, know they are good and choose paragon chat patterns. After getting the 3^rd crew member I had already figured out the pattern of – Rescue, chat, ask for Normandy Upgrade, do their private mission to get them to love me. That shit is boring Bioware, COME ON! Even the supposedly tough Jack aka Subject Zero was eating out of my hand just for giving her some attention. (-____-) That’s me looking unimpressed.

And you know what I am going to complain about since I am one of the hopeless losers who play this game for the romances. What’s up with the G rated loving? The hookups were done so carebearishly (my own word) that you may as well had fade to black and come back with the characters getting up out of bed or the engine room floor (you know who I am referring to you naughty genetically advanced freak you). Can Mass Effect 3 give us some R rated sex please? If not, at least beef up the choreography to something worthwhile, you give us 40 second cinemas for landing the damn ship, how about the same length for finally mounting the Yeoman!? Wait what?

My Favorite Team – The Dragon Team
Everyone was good, all of the characters within their respective roles kick ass, so randomly choosing a team would do them a disservice. Who did I find myself running with the most? Well that would be that crazy Bish Subject Zero and the Grunt. Zero with her supreme biotics and lack of care for getting shot, burnt, slapped whatever is a great compliment to the Grunt. I play a Vanguard, which is the warrior/mage of Mass Effect 2, I charge you with my Biotics, punch you in the gut and leave you on the floor with a couple bullets in you chest “take two on the way down POW POW!!!” So I am an in-your-face fighter, I rarely run around behind boxes trading assault rifle fire with you, my preference was the heavy handgun – it holds only 19 bullets. Ya you see how I get down, the three of us bloodied many mouths.

Who Did I Romance and Why
This was tough, if you read my “Women of Mass Effect” article you know I have a thing for tough girls. When I rescued Subject Zero, learned her back story and begun spending my free time kicking it with her down in the basements of Engineering she grew on me to the point where I wanted to be her rock. This was all well and good until frikkin Tali comes back into Shepard’s life and then Ashley (who I romanced in the first one) went loyalist, human bitch on me. It came down to Tali versus Jack and while it was the bald, tattooed hard ass who came to my (clears throat) quarters, heh heh before the final mission, it was Tali in the end who I locked it up with. Going into Mass Effect 3 Tali’Zorah vas Normandy will be my Shepard’s woman and Ashley can go take an anger management class. Bad Ashley, BAD!

Why You Should Buy Mass Effect 2
Because I said so. Look I promised you short and I gave you a book, is that not reason enough to buy this game? How much more of a fanboi do I have to prove myself to be before you go pick it up? I’ll do you one more, the aliens there culture and the ongoing adventures of Mass Effect can rival if not trump the Star Wars Universe. There I said it. Mass Effect 2, though not as dynamic and wonderful as that other Bioware game, is a pretty damn good Space Opera.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

To start off, this is one of those titles that people will understand and can personally relate to based off the situations presented in the game. Well where’s the game play you say? Heavy Rain isn’t about game play at all. It’s really more like heightening your senses in dynamic situations. Sound complex? Well that’s because it is. The complexity with the player’s interaction with the game’s dynamic story telling is what makes Heavy Rain such a unique experience. I mean the slogan holds true to the question, “how far will you go to save the one you love?”

To start off the setting is very somber. You have the deranged serial killer that leaves his calling card on all his victims, the FBI agent who can see between the lines but something is not quite right with him, the loving father who deals with an emotional situation, the over-the-hill private eye, and the curious news reporter. All of these personas fill the cold and lonely setting in Heavy Rain. Graphically the game is very impressive particularly in the character details and animations. There are times where the graphics tend to stutter, but its easily forgotten once you get into the bulk of the story. The rain plays a heavy role in the story as it unfolds and is the catalyst for all the characters involved.

It is very difficult to explain how the game is played primarily since the majority of the actions would give away huge spoilers. So I’ll try my best to explain. In any given scene, though it’s scripted to be very linear, the game play is really about “choice” more than anything else. Typically you are given a scene to interact with. Motions on the right analog stick will be displayed when there is something to interact with. There will be times where the face buttons will be used as well, but this is where the game becomes interesting. Some interactions may have you hold a series of buttons to complete the interaction. There are many times where it’s so frantic that the button presses seem impossible within the time frame you are given to complete them. This is my favorite aspect of the game. You can literally miss all of the inputs and say to yourself, “what would have happened if I didn’t miss?” Other times you may just walk normally with the left analog stick and end up in front a of an interaction suddenly. The quick time events are what really makes the game intriguing.

Another unique aspect is the dynamic story telling. Hands down, the writers of this game are on-point. Sure there are a few plot holes and inconsistencies, but the level of interactivity with the characters is amazing. This achievement is made possible because whatever “you” the player decides to interact with, changes the way the story progresses.  This definitely is a stretch beyond the imagination of what gaming should be. I almost see this trend being imitated in other games in the future. If so it will make for some unique player interaction. Again it’s really hard to describe this game without giving much away, but I can tell you there will be moments where you wish you had done something differently. You will also go through some insane decision making interactions that will simply make you want to take a breather because of its intensity.

The sound in Heavy Rain is very appealing and appropriate. The cadences in mood changes are placed at the right moments. If you feel tense, the music takes you there, if you feel somber, the music is paced proportionately in the background. The music score is of big budget movie caliber. The voice acting is hit or miss at times. I never found them too distracting only because I was into the story, though your buddies may pick on how robotic some of the dialogue sounds. Overall I think they did a great job with establishing mood by using sound. If they really bother you that much, you can change the audio to another language and watch it with subtitles.

To sum this review up, Heavy Rain is one of those titles that screams of “high risk, high reward” and I think their efforts have paid off. I can say this is not a game for everyone, but it will really intrigue an avid book reader or diehard movie-goer. This game takes you to some of those same emotions that you’d find in other forms of media. There is a bit of replay value in the sense that you can go through the entire game again and make different choices thus recreating a different outcome. I for one have a sensitive spot for this title simply because I have a child and could relate to the character’s emotions given that I were in their particular situations. The game is not perfect, but this design team needs to earn some kind of recognition simply because there is nothing out there like this.  I don’t think this game should be passed up if you really give a damn about gaming and game design. Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain may one of those titles that could revolutionize the gaming genre.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

So Mass Effect 2 has taken over my life for the last 2 weeks as I sail around the universe looking for clues to crush the Collectors. Nearing the end of my journey, I have already accumulated a team of arguably the best that the galaxy has to offer. Sure having a Justicar (the Asari version of a Samurai enforcer), a pure Krogan and Thane Krios (the greatest assassin of the time) onboard is great, but having 5-6 sexy and interested women is making me crazy. For newcomers to the Mass Effect universe, I’ll explain the importance of my last sentence – Mass Effect allows your avatar (Shepard) to develop romances with a crew member and it is one of the best bonuses to playing the game. In the first Mass Effect I went with the Asari scientist Liara T’soni initially, then rethought my justification for doing so and went with my heart Ashley Williams. Since Mass Effect 2 disallowed me the chance to have either of these women aboard my ship for this trip, I thought it necessary to have my man Shepard, move on to greener pastures.

You Must Choose But Choose Wisely
The dilemma for me now is that after many missions, rescue attempts and near death battles with my crew, I am at odds with two women who are more than compatible for Shepard. Being a sucker for punishment, I danced past the obvious choice in the uber sexy Miranda Lawson (if looks were everything she would have zero competition) and opted to woo the sociopathic, murdering, cussing, screaming, tattoo heavy, Subject Zero aka Jack. While most sane individuals would stay far across the other side of the ship to avoid this individual, I made it a point to stay in her face until she liked me. Plus my Shepard is no saint himself, having shot more than a few unarmed individuals for insubordination and various other reasons. I liked Jack because I knew Jack was a product of what was done to her, unwilling to play shrink, I wanted to be a buffer between the normal world and the inner demons which made her lash out. It worked, and after a few missions Jack would welcome Shepard coming down into the engine room to talk with her and after awhile I had him express his feelings for her. Saying it was a mutual feeling in her own little way, Jack asks for some time to think about it and I moved Shepard on to concentrate on the mission.

A few missions later, Shepard’s old machinist buddy Tali’Zorah needed rescuing. Now in the first Mass Effect, Tali was the equivalent of a teenager being made to go through a rite of passage into adulthood. Her main focus was to procure an item of worth to bring back to the Flotilla (her parent’s mothership) and fulfill her Quarian pilgrimage. Shepard was literally her only friend on the ship as I made sure he harbored no Xenophobic prejudices and didn’t hold a grudge against Tali due to her race. Tali is a Quarian, and Quarians are frowned upon in Mass Effect for accidentally unleashing a synthetic menace upon the universe known as the Geth. Since the Geth were responsible for thousands of deaths, people kept the blame of the Quarains strong and their race is treated as second class citizens universally. For Tali, Shepard was different, speaking to her as a friend, making sure her accommodations were comfortable and taking the time to learn more about her race, culture and immediate family.

Upon rescuing Tali, she joins the crew and the old feelings resurface as your conversations continue. This time it seems that Tali has matured into quite a young woman, being stronger, more firm on her wants and desires, and focused. When she is called back to the Flotilla to defend her honor after being accused of a crime, my Shepard stood with her as Captain and defense lawyer. Strangely after this occurrence she and Shepard are talking in Engineering and the topic switches to Quarian mating rituals and how they “do it” (since they are confined to wearing a suit). She let it slip that there has only been one person that she’s felt worthy of risking sickness to share atmospheres with, and as you can guess it’s Commander Shepard.

So romance drama has found its way aboard the new Normandy, SIGH! Now that the ice has been broken it becomes a choice of the young Quarian, the scarred ex-con, or to be a good Military Commander and keep my whoring paws off of my crew . Poor me right?

Who would you choose? Or if you have the game and beat it, who did you choose? Are you happy with your decision? I am thinking about doing 2 saves, just because I can but were it one I am leaning towards Tali. What do you think? Does my article make you want to pick up Mass Effect 2?

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

Contra was a game that my brother and I played for hours but always ended up in a fight. My friends and I always thought that one of the guys was Sylvester Stallone as Rambo and the other was Arnold Swartzenegger as Commando. After putting the Konami Code in and starting the game, if my brother took the Spread shot before me he would be punched in the arm. What bothered me the most was that he could never stay alive long enough before he started taking my lives by smashing the start button. All the levels were the same -- only the scenery changed. Contra was a great game that could be played in one sitting before your NES would reset it self. The NES and games like Contra when looking back now you can tell people enjoyed what they were doing and put quality before making money in their games.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

Now that we have that out of the way let’s actually take a look at a wonderful game that was sorta late to the design pond. The game’s focus is really more or less set on the backdrop of the Divine Comedy “Dante’s Inferno” which tells of a poet’s thoughts of his descent into Hell to save a loved one. The designers clearly thought that the idea of making the journey into Hell could easily give the player an unusual and artistic take into the game’s universe.

I can quite say that they did a great job of creating the Hellish world. Our forsaken hero is sent into the 9 layers of Hell to reach his ultimate goal of rescuing his beloved Beatrice (insert gratuitous boob footage here…) from the clutches of Lucifer. The level design is lack for another word, unique. You do get the sense that you are in an environment that is full of agony and torture. You’ll see the mindless souls reaching out of walls as you ascend, barren wastelands and twisted trees with the hanging dead. I definitely felt the background designs added to the eerie setting. It’s nice to know that background designers from Metroid Prime and God of war lent their unique and creative minds to create such vast landscapes.

The character designs are completely off the scale from anything sane and that’s a good thing. I won’t gripe about the textures as they will only bother the real nitpicky gamers out there. But you will hoof-legged demons to creepy female demons that can impale you with their genitalia. And don’t get me started on the Gluttony creatures that will defecate and  have vomit attacks.  The bosses go into greater weirdness from the 3-mouthed Cerberus to the giant King Minos, all will have you gasping in awe at times and leaves the player wondering “how and the hell am I going to pull this one off”? All of the creatures you encounter are unique to the particular part of Hell that you descend to. You have a great sense that each locale is different and a very nice design choice I might add.

The story is compelling in Dante’s Inferno and if some of you are bible-toting holy rollers, you’ll find a lot of characters you encounter are from various periods of history as well as the bible. This may be a little unsettling to some only because you get to interact with them and either absolve or condemn them to Hell. It was an interesting mechanic that seem to make me dig up the history books and see why they might have been banished to Hell such as the  afamed love affair between Paris and Helen of Troy. This will definitely cause some players to look into their history-buffed brains to catch a lot of the references.

Lastly I’ll briefly rant on the combat. I feel that if anyone has either played or not play the God of War series, you’ll feel right at home. The control is simple to pick up and have the player feel empowered once they’ve upgrade Dante’s abilities. It’s your standard hack ‘n’ slash affair but there are enough attacks  to suit your play style. Players can level up the “Holy” or “Unholy” side of the tree each with its own set of abilities. There are  also hidden relics found throughout the game that can enhance the properties of each side. There’s nothing more sweet than vanquishing foul demons with the Holy Cross, only to pop them up in the air and continue the aerial assault, then follow up with attacks that let you continually bounce them back up. It’s great combo fun. But alas the system is not without its flaws. You will find that some linear attacks may miss an enemy or two which starts the hit counter over. A frustrating situation when you are near a 200-hit combo and it resets because your move doesn’t connect. Overall combat is solid but can get a bit repetitive especially since you can use a bread n butter combo to clear most hordes.

In summary I definitely think for most gamers who’ve played the GOW series you may just want to rent this one. If you haven’t then this game will definitely be fairly entertaining. There are loads of things to unlock and with the announced DLC which includes multiplayer and player created stages, Dante’s Inferno will hold you down for a good while. Just don’t swinging a bone-clad Scythe at random people just because your evil buddy stole your girlfriend. It’s really hard to score this one any higher because of its originality, but rest assured Dante’s Inferno is a great time. Even if it’s not like the poem!

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

Samurai Shodown if played now will seem like a simple fighter, along the lines of a Street Fighter 2 or the first Tekken but on the contrary it had an engine unlike anything I had seen at the time. The game seemed to have a hidden system that controlled dizzying, severing torsos and looking pretty. The slowing down of the speed when you kill an opponent critically and the cool win poses and intros set it worlds apart from anything being played at the time and fighting gamers fell in love. Honing a roster of generic representation of real world warriors, Samurai Shodown featured prominent Japanese legends such as the swallow slicing Ukyo, the eye-patched sword master Jubei Yagyu and the mysterious ninja Hattori Hanzo (yes before Kill Bill there was an actual guy kiddies). Outside the shores of Japan you had fighters like Joan of Arc renamed as Charlotte, and a fat American named Earthquake… yes some had no reference at all lol.

When a fighter got good at Samurai Shodown it was like a real Samurai face-off between gamers. My Haohmaru became a bit of a legend on its own having a record of over 100 unmatched victories in my local arcade due to the hidden 3 hit dizzy combo that I had learned from a master. There were Nakoruru masters, Jubei masters and Hanzo masters who would have the grandest of fights and people who lacked the skill that would end up katana fodder for the hardcores. When you talk fighting game history, Samurai Shodown is one of those mainstays that will come up every time and remains one of my favorite fighting games of all time.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

Ever since its initial announcement, there was a high level of interest for this game. Most gamers in general seemed a little standoffish that a game entirely designed to be played as one big “quicktime” event. Similar games have hit their niche market in the past with games like Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace, and even Sega’s Shenmue.

It would seem that hitting a command in time with when it’s exposed on the screen may seem to be a dated idea, but somehow Heavy Rain may seems to overcome that initial observation. The demo also allows you to play as two of the main characters in the game. Essentially the first story begins as a quick tutorial on how the game mechanics work. You also get a taste for what the actions sequences are like in Heavy Rain. Don’t think you can easily put that controller down just because some dialogue is being displayed.

From the very moment you pick up the controller some kind of interaction can be done as you take control of your character. The unique thing is that your interactions are what tell the story. Even as characters run through their dialogue, you continually create actions with your character. Never have I been emotionally driven by the decisions that I make in a videogame known to date. The experience is quite unexpected.

The second part of the demo allows you to play as the FBI agent that has some kind of unsettling drug addiction. Here you get play out the investigation sequence that help you piece together clues to track down the infamous “Origami Killer”. The game offers a virtual device in the form of shades and a glove that gives you a “Star Trek” like approach to visualizing your clues. The interface is self explainatory and looks to be a very integral part of the game.

By the end of the demo I was found wanting more. Like there was things left undone in this dark world. You really get into the characters that you interact with and you almost feel like you are going to see and hear things that you might not want  to be exposed to. Heavy Rain hits stores next week and I forsee this game doing well in the gaming ranks. Be sure to catch my full review as it arrives February 23 2010.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles

Being one of the original game babes, during a time when heroines were non-existent makes Samus that much more special. The game Metroid itself was a fun romp into the strangest caves and hives where miss Aran had to blast space-aged jelly fish looking to suck the life out of her… not that we envy them or anything.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings - Games, Hobbies and Articles