Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Version: Xbox 360
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: August 23, 2011
Reviewed: October 17, 2011

This got lost in the flood of games being released. Finally got around to finishing up this review, and I think it’s for [...]]]>

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Version: Xbox 360
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: August 23, 2011
Reviewed: October 17, 2011

This got lost in the flood of games being released. Finally got around to finishing up this review, and I think it’s for the better, since my initial reaction was based purely on, “Oh god, this game is the best, most amazing game, EVER!” However, after I let it sink in I’ve found myself disliking certain parts more than I did the first time around(In a review sense). Also, I’ve never played the original Deus Ex on PC, and I believe that might change the way I approach this. Anyway, enough of that intro, it’s on to the review itself.

I’m sure by now a majority of anyone that happens to read this will have already played the game, but I’ll still explain a few details. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution you play the role of Adam Jensen, an Ex-SWAT security officer working for Sarif Industries. You’re doing your job when suddenly there is an explosion in the building. You’re off to save the day, or at least that’s what you’d think. You end up getting brutally beat up, and barely surviving the ordeal, which leads to surgery to save your life. Fast forward 6 months, and you’re brought back to Sarif Industries to help with a crisis, but this time you’re not the same man you once were. Nope, now you’re Augmented, which even comes with sweet retracting shades because who cares, you need to look awesome while you’re working.

Now the real game starts. Exploration. This is the bread and butter of Human Revolution, however, it’s cut short when you’re forced to go to your next mission quickly, otherwise the situation may become worse. I’m sure a lot of people were turned off by not being able to search around for every little thing so early, but it gave a feel of time moving forward in the world. The downfall is that this feeling isn’t kept the same throughout the game, at least it didn’t seem that way(Night sure does last a long time). Anyway, the first mission let’s you get your barrings set on how you’ll be able to approach a majority of the rest of the game. I’ll be straight-forward here, if you want to treat this game as a Run-N-Gun, then you better hope you’re an amazing shot with your bullets, and don’t ignore doing takedowns when available. You’ll find yourself burning through the little ammo available quickly if you approach every situation with the intent on shooting everyone in the room. However, the Run-N-Gun method IS viable, but only if you take advantage of specific Augments. The impatient players may find this game more frustrating than fun. Even on the lower difficulty you are not an invincible bullet-sponge, so don’t expect to take 100 hundred bullets in a firefight and be perfectly fine. That being said, Human Revolution rewards stealthy approaches with higher Experience in comparison to the Run-N-Gun aspect. The game is really centered around taking your time, and trying to approach every situation with the intent on not being seen or heard.

Once you’re free of the first mission, you finally get to start the ‘No time limit’ Exploration, and each consecutive area is the same. The downfall is that you’re limited to the specific areas you’re in at the time, there is no “I want to go to this city, then come back to this city.” You progress through the different areas as you progress through the main story. You could make a dash for each main story mission, but the other bread and butter(toast with butter perhaps?) is the sidequests. They’re littered throughout each main area you visit, and they help you gain a large amount of experience or even some Praxis Points if you’re lucky.

Praxis Points. These points are your stats in the game. They allow you to upgrade Jensen, and unlock new Augmentation abilities to perform. The abilities range from being able to turn completely invisible, recharge your energy quicker, increased armor, increased hacking, launching out a 360 degree of grenades around you, and so on. It’s in your best interest to think carefully about which ability you unlock, because you might keep yourself from being able to take certain paths(Approaching situations, etc).

Now to tackle the boss fights. Yes, there are ‘boss’ fights in Human Revolution, however, they are all confrontational boss fights. You have to be prepared to get up close and personal with all of these bosses, but even if you’re a stealth and sneaky type this can still be handled easily. The one recommendation I make to anyone is to stock up on Frag Mines. It takes roughly 4-5 Frag Mines to take out a boss, depending on if you shoot them with any guns you’ve been holding onto. It’s rather disappointing that there are even boss fights in this game, since it detracts from the real element of Human Revolution, which is to explore and unfold the story(or sidequest stories).

In the end, the game is still rather solid despite having issues with the boss fights. I personally never had problems against the bosses in the game, but I easily understood where problems could arise in the fights. The exploration felt great, and rewarded you even when you did something as simple as explore a ventilation shaft. It was addicting to try and explore everything that you could find just to keep getting experience points to get more Praxis points, which allowed you to unlock your Augmentations. It was difficult to feel invincible if you didn’t manage item usage in the middle of fights, but if you do it well enough then it feels great when you take out 4-5 guys in one fight. I recommend to rent it if you enjoy exploration and sneaking around.

Review Score: 88/100

That’s right, a new trailer has been released that’s nearly a 17 minute playthrough of what seems to be the tutorial level of Hitman: Absolution. The trailer displays the cover system, takedowns, clothes swapping, gunplay, AI, and so on. So, enough about the introduction, check it out below.

Today you’re going to be getting a mandatory update for your Xbox. This System Update makes no major changes and is only a general maintenance update. The beauty of this update? You will probably get signed out of Xbox Live and forced to download this update anyway, so [...]]]>

Today you’re going to be getting a mandatory update for your Xbox. This System Update makes no major changes and is only a general maintenance update. The beauty of this update? You will probably get signed out of Xbox Live and forced to download this update anyway, so you better hope you’re not in the middle of a tough boss fight in Dark Souls with some Co-op partners, because you might end up getting disconnected. Joyous of days for this Xbox Live update.

Sometime during the early morning hours tomorrow (Pacific Time, Tuesday, October 11th) we are pushing out a mandatory system update. If you are signed into LIVE already, you may be signed out. Once the update has been completed, you’ll be able to sign-in again and back online in a few moments.

This is a general system maintenance update and there are no new features that will show up once your system has been updated.

If you’re wondering, the above starting paragraph happened to me. I was in the middle of online co-op in Dark Souls and poof, no more co-op against the Boss we were fighting(When you disconnect from Xbox Live in Dark Souls, you get dropped to the main menu automatically). Good times. Hope you weren’t looking forward to any specific changes from this system update.

Source: Major Nelson

Yeah, so don’t worry about all the junk that’s being released this Fall/Winter…let’s add on some more on top of that. Are you bankrupt yet?

Sony is continuing to take the initiative to bolster its PlayStation Network following the disastrous hack earlier this year. Not only [...]]]>

Yeah, so don’t worry about all the junk that’s being released this Fall/Winter…let’s add on some more on top of that. Are you bankrupt yet?

Sony is continuing to take the initiative to bolster its PlayStation Network following the disastrous hack earlier this year. Not only did Sony add another $20 million this summer to a Pub Fund it started a couple years ago, but today the company announced a new “Only On PlayStation Network” program to stress its flow of exclusive gaming content.

Starting on October 4, every Tuesday in the month will see several new exclusives on PSN, including Pub Fund titles like Eufloria and Okabu, as well as inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood and PixelJunk Sidescroller. And the program will also feature a selection of “rare classic games” added to the store on October 4, including God Hand, GrimGrimoire, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Odin Sphere and Ring of Red.

Consumers who are PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive a 20% discount during the launch week of each “Only On PSN” game. On top of that, if you spend $60 or more out of your PlayStation Network/Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) Wallet throughout the month of October, you’ll be able to receive a $10 store credit towards purchases in November. This promotion isn’t limited to just games – spending can be on add-ons, PlayStation Home micro-transactions, TV shows, movies, Music Unlimited subscriptions, etc.

“‘Only On PlayStation Network’ is our line of great exclusive games that users can count on to deliver exciting game experiences that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Susan Panico, senior director of PlayStation Network, SCEA. “This strong initial content offering, combined with the day one discounts for PlayStation Plus subscribers and the ‘Spend $60, Get $10 Back’ promotion, makes PlayStation Network the premier destination for digital content.”

The lineup in the program is as follows: October 4 – Eufloria and Rochard; October 11 – Sideway: New York; October 13 – Sodium Collection; October 18 – Okabu and RocketBirds; October 25 – inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood and PixelJunk Sidescroller.

Definitely looking forward to God Hand and Odin Sphere being released. Hopefully with this new addition we’ll start to see some more obscure and hard to find games that slowly disappeared. I’m going to gauge the price point at $15, since PS2 HD Releases are $20, and PS1 Releases are $10; A nice median. And yeah, Okami, maybe?

Source: Industry Gamers

You may have seen this before, but for those who haven’t, you need to watch this. This man is Terry Garrett, an engineering student who works for Mind Studios. He showcases and explains how he is able to play games despite being unable to see. To be honest, I think he [...]]]>

You may have seen this before, but for those who haven’t, you need to watch this. This man is Terry Garrett, an engineering student who works for Mind Studios. He showcases and explains how he is able to play games despite being unable to see. To be honest, I think he puts me to shame in a couple of these games. Especially Bit.Trip Runner. That game is tough to get a grip on.

First, a little bit about the man himself.

A couple videos that showcase his gameplay:

A fantastic guy, and an inspiration to anyone knocking themselves down. Make sure you like his Facebook Page and subscribe to his Youtube Channel.



Source: Terry Garrett’s Youtube Channel
Source: Terry Garrett’s Facebook Page

Driver: San Francisco
Version: Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft Reflections
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: September 6, 2011
Reviewed: September 18, 2011

This review will be based solely off how this game stacks up by itself, and not in comparison to previous games in [...]]]>

Driver: San Francisco
Version: Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft Reflections
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: September 6, 2011
Reviewed: September 18, 2011

This review will be based solely off how this game stacks up by itself, and not in comparison to previous games in the franchise. The reason for this is that I don’t consider this a sequel, but a new branch of the series. So, how does this game handle? Well, the main components of this game are it’s story and it’s driving, which both stack up nicely.

The basic gist of the story is that you’re a cop named John Tanner, and you’re driven to make sure that the antagonist, Charles Jericho, is kept behind bars for good. An issue arises allowing Jericho to break free, and you’re tasked to stop him. However, while giving chase you end up in an accident and your character slips into a Coma. Here is where the game begins, as the new feature named Shift is slowly introduced to the player(you).

From this point on, the story unfolds in what I would like to call, an Episodic TV Series. It even has, “Previously on Driver: San Francisco” and everything. And just like a TV Series where you have to wait until next week to see the new episode, this game follows a similar style. In between each Main Story mission, you have to do a few side missions to progress the timeline. The usual amount ranges from 2 to 3 side missions before you can continue with the next Main Story mission. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if the side missions didn’t eventually become repetitive. However, since you have the ability to free roam, you can choose to ignore the side missions if they’re becoming too repetitive for your tastes. Take a small break and do a couple of Dare or Speed Challenges to mix things up. How about if you just want to ignore all of that and go take a nice stroll through the streets? Go ahead, however, early on in the Main Story the whole map won’t be unlocked. That won’t stop you from building up enough points to purchase a Ford GT to cruise the streets in style.

This brings me to my next point, which is the handling of the vehicles in the game. This is the key component for any game where you’re doing a lot of driving, and that’s especially true for this game, since you never walk around on foot. And I’m happy to say that the handling feels solid in this game. It’s got the perfect arcade feel, which doesn’t feel too heavy or too light. When I can manage to go over 200mph for 1-2 minutes straight in oncoming traffic, that says something about the handling of the cars. The beauty of each car is that they all feel different, and feel like they have a weight to them. If you’re driving a large truck or a tanker, then you can bet that you will feel like you’re driving around a heavy vehicle. There is weight behind turns and when you’re smashing into other cars on the road. Same with when you drive around in a Pagani Zonda. The Zonda feels like a thin piece of paper, and as such, it drives like a weightless car; almost like the Zonda could take off and fly into the air at any moment.

There are some downfalls, however, which needs to be noted. If you want to jump off a ramp truck from the interstate down to the road below, then you will be disappointed in a lot of situations, since you will likely collide with an invisible wall. This gave has slightly too many invisible walls where it shouldn’t, which ruined a lot of the open feel at times. Nothing was more frustrating than hitting a perfect jump at 200mph only to slam into an invisible barrier on the median.

How did the control feel while switching from car to car with Shift? It honestly felt great, and it got better as the game progresses to different levels of Shift. You start out only having street access available, but then you get to zoom to an Eagle Eye view, and then an even further Eagle Eye view until you eventually have a City view. One neat detail is that the game has no loading issues while it’s loading in the vehicles on the road during Shift. It didn’t matter how fast you went from one area to another, it was all seamless transitions.

In the end, this game was a surprise, considering I didn’t expect it to play as well as it turned out. Shifting from one car to the next felt great, and the handling on all the vehicles had a perfect arcade feel. The story did start to drag on slightly a bit too long due to the repetitive side missions you were forced to do, however, they kept it interesting enough that I managed to play through the entire thing in two sittings. Clocked in at roughly 9-10 hours with watching the cutscenes and only losing a couple times during side missions.

Review Score: 83/100