Starhawk (PS3)

Starhawk is an interesting game in that its hard to classify it into one genre. One could try, but instead you would end up with a mis-classifications. Probably the best description is a third person action flight sim RTS. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Following of the heals of Warhawk (well maybe not heels since it came out in 2007, how about foot prints that where later covered up by the crashing ocean, somewhat romantic right?) Starhawk aims to be a lot of things and does a pretty good job at it. I played both the original Warhawk (1995) and the remake (2007) a good deal. Granted they are both two different games, but they where still fun. The first game was very much a "flight" sim and I use that distinction loosely. The remake was a multi-player only game.

Starhawk seems to try to right the wrongs of the last game. While it added a single player portion, its really just a tutorial. It only takes about 6 hours to complete. You can go back through and try and get better times and medals, but these really don't serve any purpose. Instead the bulk of this game is meant to be played online. While there isn't a great deal of variety, the multi-player games are a blast. It never gets old calling down new structures to help defend your base. But your base seems to be the biggest problem, if the opposing team is well coordinated and they can essentially spawn camp the balls out of your base. This kind of diminishes the fun and doesn't allow for the greatest challenge at over coming overwhelming odds. The vehicles, while there aren't a lot of variety are enjoyable, flying the Starhawks is great fun. I loved taking off, flying to the enemy base and bombarding the hell out of it. Only to transform in their base and kill everything...so I guess I am kind of a dick in those matters. Also I don't know what it is, but the structures seems incredibly weak to me. When some guy can walk up and take down a sentry gun with a few swipes of his knife...there is something wrong. I haven't played the prospector mode yet, which looks fun, but I can't get together any co-op people to enjoy it with. My girlfriend has an adherence to playing video games with me in which she can "look right at them" (i.e. third person perspective). I suppose she mainly serves as enemy distraction in any case.

I have enjoyed Starhawk. Its a very good multi player distraction especially for someone like me who hates playing with out people. I'll probably continue playing it while farming for trophies.

Prototype 2 (PS3)

I have to say I enjoyed the first Prototype game. It came out during a very dry period in gaming in 2009 and I enjoyed it. However, maybe its due to the amount of games I play, but it wasn't very memorable. While I remember running around New York City waving my giant tentacle arms and gobbling up innocents, I don't remember a damn thing from the story line.

Flash forward to 2012 and now we have a sequel. While I enjoyed Prototype 2, it suffers from the same problem as the first game, its not memorable. Missions are tied together loosely with black and white cut scene that only have blue and red. I realize this is Radical's attempt at being artistic, but come on guys, I think we can move on past that. They also inter cut weird full motion video into the consuming portions. I remember this from the first game and while it may be neat the first couple times, whats the point?

Another problem I have is graphics. I don't usually care too much about this, I mean hell I played MorphX just fine and didn't care about them. But I wish they could make the shape changing and tentacle stuff look better. I looks at times like a last generation with an HD shine put on it. And honestly the game looks it best when you're far away from everything...that's kind of sad when you think about it.


Besides having a fairly predictable story with a twist that you could see from a mile a way, Prototype 2 is fun. Its fun to play. Plain and simple. Running up the side of a building only to jump kick off, glide a few meters and land on some poor solider never gets old. I also liked the powers, while it doesn't seem like there are as many in the first game, it added an element where you can yield two powers at once. Its pretty cool to be slicing someone with a giant sword arm to go to pummeling them with hammer fists.


While there is a greater amount of customized ability (kind of), Prototype does make you feel like a genetic bad ass. I will say however, compared to the first game, I hate the main character in the second game. Jame Heller is not a like able protagonist. His gruff angry voice and his all around lack of humanity makes him an unlikeable hero. Even if he is an anti-hero, I don't see a redeeming quality about him. With Alex Mercer in the first game, I felt more of a connection. His story made sense to while he is mad. With Heller...it doesn't make sense and his revenge story doesn't redeem him.

But like I said I enjoyed Prototype 2, its certainly worth a discounted price for admission, but its a fun mindless romp. 

The Walking Dead (PS3)

I have always been a fan of adventure games, hell Grim Fandango is one of my top favorite games of all time. And I really like TellTale Games for keeping the genre alive and reinvigorating it. While I didn't know they where making a Walking Dead game, I had played all of there other games. I have to say though, Jurassic Park was probably not the best game. It just lacked something that Back to the Future, Sam and Max and Monkey Island series had. Plus the girl in that game was absolutely terrible and many time I would purposely fail just to have her be eaten by a velociraptor. I secretly hoped her father would move on with his life, while mourning a little bit, but in the end be realized that he was happy didn't have to carry her around anymore.

The Walking Dead takes all the mistakes from Jurassic Park and throws them away. Its a quick (granted only the first episode has been released) exciting game, that never fails to impress. While it touts how your decisions actually will effect the game later on (not like some Mass Effect bullshit), the game makes you invested in your choices. I questioned myself a great deal after I chose to save the boy over the farmers son. I still don't think I made the right choice, but I have to live with it.

The graphics are amazing and really capture the graphic novel qualities. The cell shading is minuscule, but makes you feel like you are playing a comic book. This is a far greater telling of the original source material then the hit AMC television show. The controls are tight and they need to be for the quick responses you have to give. On little slip and you are zombie chow. Of it you make a wrong move and let some else be eaten, the rest of the people will remember that. For example when Glenn witnesses you allowing a bitten women take her own life, its something that will haunt you and your relationship with him. The dialog is the highlight of the game, granted when its an adventure game, what else do you have to go on? I could sit there and little to voice actors talk about the world and everything, it was just wonderfully written.

I really enjoyed the Walking Dead, it was a shame the first episode only clocked in around 3 hours, I didn't want it to end. But with three more episodes on the way, I am excited to see how the series continues. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants something different then the traditional zombie shooter and wants to become enveloped in the story.

Infamous 2 Review

I had originally intended a review of Duke Nukem: Forever to be my maiden review, however since I just finished Infamous 2 it will have to wait.

Infamous 2 is the sequel to Sucker Punch Studio’s Infamous. You play the role of Cole McGrath who by events from the first game is garnered with powers to control electricity.

Story: I felt like the story was a little lacking within Infamous 2. Granted it was still an amazing story, it however lacked the ability to truly grip me and hold onto me attention much like the first game could. The story in Infamous 2 centers much more a central gathering mission which pits you against the forces of New Marais. The stories are very intertwined between the first and second game. To avoid spoilers, I won’t give away many details between two. I will say the antagonist, Bertrand, is a decent evil force. However I feel his goals or ambitions seem muddled throughout the story. It’s made clear later on, but throughout the majority of the game, I felt lost to what exactly he wanted. This could simply be the story telling technique used by Sucker Punch, but a little more clarity would have been nice.

With the central theme of Cole’s adventure set, you are faced with karmatic choices that affect the abilities you obtain and equip. For my first outing I played through Evil. (I always choose evil when I play a game the first time) I never felt like my actions where really all the evil. They just seemed more selfish compared to the helping the “greater good” Good story line. But by the end of the game, you are met with an interesting change in paths. I will say the evil ending is very bitter-sweet. It does leave it open, but it actually made me really sad to commit one act at the very end of the game. All I can say is well done Sucker Punch for making me feel terrible for my choice but reminding me that it’s the choice I made.

Game play: The game play is always the focal point of any video game. First all of Cole’s abilities return from the first game with some welcomed extras. The level in which you can purchase and equip powers is a welcomed addition to Infamous 2. This allows for the player to have the ability to switch weapons on the fly for any situation that they might encounter. However I felt like after a certain point I only keep certain powers within my arsenal, only switching out my Ionic attacks depending on what type of mayhem I wanted to produce. Honestly just about any combat situation Cole finds himself in can be solved with a few simply Grenade lobs. But this may be a simplification of the entire system. This is by no means to downplay the intensity and pure insanity that some battles offer. However this could be that I was playing on hard difficulty or my own lack of tactical skills set, but later on some battles with the Ice Enemies seem all together too cheap. There is a dodge feature which is welcomed, but I am not accustomed to using this feature to dodge a nearly 50ft piece of ice thrown by some unknown juggernaut. I found often sometimes in battles with enemies barreling down upon me with speed that I couldn’t hope to match only to be shot at a close range by a point-blank shot gun blast. This became a rather annoying occurrence, but thankfully with the amazing save system that Infamous 2 employs it didn’t make me want to turn off the game once in frustration.

Cole’s platforming abilities make a return as well. One could argue that with Sucker Punch’s Sly Cooper Series they were the original perfectors of vertical platforming. The first Infamous had amazing versatility when it came to ability to climb nearly surface without any hassle. Not much to this system has been tweaked in the second game; if anything it has been improved it’s the shear speed and all around nimbleness of Cole. But it doesn’t seem as seamless as it could be. With such game characters as Assassin Creed’s Enzio having the ability to scale a wall or building with dynamic ease is amazing. Cole on the other hand seems be almost reluctant at time to scale a tall building. There is certainly a pause while Cole tries to scramble to find his footing on even the narrowest wall or outcropping. But at times the platforming really surprises the player. I found that many of the times I died platforming where by my own hand and taking too much control over my jumping. In many ways the game wants you to have more faith in it, with a simple “Don’t worry, I got this” mentality. This same degree existed within the first one and would probably put off those who found the lack of total control frustrating.

As for mission design they were great. The central story missions where well told and always provided great variety in what they wanted. The side missions where the same, however they at times there where far more copy and paste then the main mission. The real variety came from the Karma missions. The evil or good missions provided a welcomed change. Working with either the proposed evil character in which you quite protestors who are demonstrating against your reign of terror or destroying the local police force provide ways to break up the main story. From what I played of the good missions, they focus on healing the sick or putting down militia uprisings to defusing bombs.

Audio and Visuals: Honestly I am not that big into this category as many of my gamers. Yes in some cases some visuals can be appalling with terrible voice acting. But any triple A title such as Infamous 2 does not suffer from these issues. The only thing that struck me was the different voice actor for Cole. I didn’t like him at first because I thought the voice actor for the first game was amazing. However the new voice actor does a great job conveying the emotions and often the frustrations that Cole has to go through dealing with his powers. And I thought the evil character that joins your side was probably one of the most annoying characters, but I can understand her. An uneducated child who is fueled by simple emotions and anger that is given power. But at the same time I had a hard time picking the evil side because of her.

Overall: Infamous 2 is a brilliant game. It it’s probably one of the best games this year. It is lacking in some areas compared to the first one, but I believe they are minor to the overall fun and satisfaction that really comes from Infamous 2. If an individual enjoys playing these type of games then Infamous 2 should be a definite pick up. But if you did not play the first one, I would recommend playing it first simply the get the benefit with the overlapping story lines.

Score: 9.0/10