REVIEW: Gladiator Begins

Ever wonder what it would be like to play as a gladiator in Rome? Not the lame ones that are either scared, depressed, or dead but the one that strives not only for his freedom, but also to be the top dog. You get to be that gladiator in the game Gladiator Begins.

Gladiator Begins

Developer: GOSHOW

Publisher: Aksys Games (NA), Acquire (Japan)

Platform: Playstation Portable

Release: 9/14/2010

Gladiator Begins is the sequel to Colosseum: Road to Freedom for the Playstation 2. It's an action arena fighter mixed with a few RPG elements.

Story:

I never played Colosseum on the PS2 so I don't know how much of a connection Gladiator Begins makes to it. You name and create your gladiator through a set of menu choices, go through a brief tutorial and go to your first arena match. You meet your owner, Magerius, and as your career as a gladiator progresses you meet some aristocrats and former gladiators. These people could become your potential patrons should you choose them to be. Aside from fighting to earn your freedom, you have to win favors for the aristocrats by winning the in the challenges set in their arenas.

All the narrative is told via digital novel style with animated figures of the characters and text boxes. Though the story is good and somewhat engaging, the presentation can be boring at times, luckily it can all be skipped by pressing the start button.

With many choices of who to side with, the game features multiple endings. Now whether or not it's motivates for multiple playthroughs, it's all up to personal preference.

Gameplay and Features:

Gladiator Begins is an action game so most of what you'll be doing is slaying poor souls in the arena who are stupid enough to face you. You have a slew of weapons to choose from ranging from swords, clubs, spears, hammers, big shields, small shields and even dual wielding of same or different weapons. Each weapon controls differently, experiment to what ever combination tickles your fancy. I prefer a double hammer which gives massive attack power but leaves you open to attacks.

Combat:

Each of the four face buttons signify the direction of your attack, Triangle aims for a high attack, circle goes for the right, square for the left, and cross for the legs. Aside from those four basic attacks, you can assign different skills to each button. Once you start with a basic attack and quickly follow up with another attack, your gladiator will use a skill attack. Skill attack can also be executed immediately by holding down the L button and then pressing an attack button. Skill attacks use up stamina, if you don't have enough stamina, your gladiator performs a fatigue attack which is a slow (but not weak) downward slash. Your gladiator will rest for a moment which leaves you open for attacks. There are also passive skills which you learn from master gladiators (one on one fights between you and a master gladiator, kinda like a boss fight). With a passive skill equipped you use the basic attacks of those gladiators, granted that you're using their weapon sets. The R button puts you in a defensive stance and you can parry attacks by pressing L while holding R.

In battle, you can strike specific points of your opponent, do enough damage on a part and their armor / weapon can fly off leaving that part exposed. You can pick up dropped items and wear them again but that only applies to helmets and weapons for your left and right hand. Fallen armor pieces can also affect you on the field, if someone is getting attacked and gets pushed back onto an armor piece on the floor, they trip on it and fall further back. This can be both good or bad depending on who's on the receiving end of the attack.

The RPG Part:

Your gladiator levels up in battle. If you level up, your health instantly goes back to full and your stamina maxes out which puts you in a great advantage at times. Outside of the arena, you can change your equipment. Helmets or masks for the head, braces or arm guards for each arm, shin guards for each leg, and weapons or shields for either hand. Each item has 4 values, attack, defense, weight and price. Of course you'd choose the items with the highest stats but you have a limit. You gladiator can only hold up to a certain amount of weight, you can exceed the weight limit and still fight but you'll be extremely slow and stamina drains faster than a fart after a burrito.

Aside from just item stats, you can increase your own by points you earn from battle. You can choose to increase either vitality (HP), endurance (stamina), strength (max weight limit).

Multiplayer:

There is ad-hoc support for this game which you can choose who you want to use (in game gladiators or you own characters), match type and opponent/s. You can also exchange custom characters with other players. Unfortunately you do not level up in multiplayer, nor do you earn money or items.

Gladiator Begins surprised me in a lot of ways, a lot of good ways. I was expecting this to be a shallow brawler wherein the only amount of customization you have is equipment change. The RPG style character development was a nice surprise. The story is pretty good if you give it a chance. The combat isn't very deep and sometimes imbalanced but that is forgivable since this isn't a big name title. This may not be the best action RPG out there, there is no overworld to explore and the only important character is pretty much you. Still, give this game a chance, it can get frustrating at times since the AI seems too strong and starts dodging almost every attack you throw at em but this game was not at all how I expected it to be. The game may not be perfect but it's worth the jump.

Score: 67/100

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cp5KIOk-84&feature=player_embedded]

(original Post by Migoy)

REVIEW: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West has everything you have for an epic adventure. Chase scenes, intense fights, a colorful world to explore, and a good story to tell. Enslaved was a breath of fresh air for me, a game that focuses more on presentation and story. From the likable characters, a colorful post-apocalyptic setting, to a well written story, this game will suck you in from start to finish but with a few bumps along the way. A game developed by Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword, new Devil May Cry), Enslaved: Odyssey to the West shows us what Ninja Theory aims to achieve with their games, and that is story telling.

Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Played on: Playstation 3

Published by: Namco Bandai Games

Developed by: Ninja Theory

Release Date: Oct 5, 2010

Story and Presentation

Its 150 years into the future and Humans are close to extinct, and robots rule the land once again. The game revolves around Monkey and Trip. It starts off with both of them escaping a Slaver ship, Without Monkey knowing, Trip enslaves Monkey with a slave headband that makes trip command him, if he resists, the headband will release a deadly dose that will kill him instantly. Trip gives Monkey a deal, she will remove the headband if he brings her home safely. Now Monkey bonded with Trip, is left with no choice. With them bonded, if trip dies, so does Monkey. And that’s where everything starts, Sounds simple enough?  Hardly since Monkey and Trip will have to deal with mechs that kills anything alive. The key element in their story was how their relationship evolved as you progress. They expressed the bond between Monkey and Trip well enough to care about them.

It’s a great story, not the most original story since it’s almost identical to the classic chinese novel journey to the West. Trip is Tripitaka for short and she is a small petite red-head chick that can’t stay alive for at least a day, while Monkey, well Monkey is obviously like the Monkey King with him having a staff as a weapon that by the way shortens when not needed. He also has this yellow belt that dangles in the back making it look like he has a tail when he runs. He looks similar to a human guerilla that’s ready to pound the ground at any minute. I guess it makes sense to why he climbs the way he does. Alex Garland (28 weeks later, the beach, sunshine), wrote the story and took the concept of Journey to the west and dumped it on a post-apocalyptic world. It was well written and didn’t feel like the typical unbearable story and dialogue that games usually have.

Monkey was easily likeable. Monkey is very straight forward and when enslaved by Trip, he accepted his fate and didn’t dwell on it and quickly focused on getting trip home as soon as possible. He’s hot tempered and you’d think he won’t have much of a brain by his looks but as you progress you get a deeper sense of who he is. Trip on the other hand at the start was annoying because she screams half the time and is scared all throughout. She tones down midway into the game and both of them sooner or later develop a level of trust that makes their bond interesting. Trip is very resourceful with her tech skills and while you think she’s selfish, she’s just trying everything to get home. You will hear Trip’s story as you play but they don’t expand much on where Monkey came from. As you hit the halfway mark on Enslaved you’ll meet the Pigsy, the 3^rd and last Character you’ll meet as you go through the game. Just like his name, the guy is a fat pig looking guy with a grappling hook as his right arm. He helps Monkey and Trip out and is a good addition to the group if somehow you get tired of seeing just Monkey and Trip. He gets on Monkey’s nerve most of the time and has a thing for Trip, poor Trip.

The game did a good job bringing out the personality of the Characters visually. Ninja Theory brought in Andy Serkis(Played king Kong, Gollum) to direct, motion capture and assist in writing. With him on board, I already knew the motion capture will be fantastic…..and it was. The emotions in the characters faces were impressive and the movements of the Characters weren’t clunky and dull plus the game had great voice acting. As Monkey and Trip press on getting closer to Trip’s home, Monkey gets hallucinations from the headband. As Monkey tries to keep it in you can tell he’s freaked and Trip notices and gets worried for Monkey. These emotions can be seen in the characters.  Good motion capture, great voice acting, and a story worth knowing? You don’t see that every day in gaming.

Gameplay

Enslaved did great with their story and presentation but gameplay is different and you can’t run with just pure story. Fighting in Enslaved is very simple and only gets slightly interesting midway into the game when you have unlocked upgrades for monkey. The game has finishing moves that can be done on mechs that have an abnormality in them, Trip scans the enemies ahead to see if there’s anything that monkey can take advantage on. These finishers make monkey do cool looking moves to rip the enemy apart. Monkey’s normal attacks can often trigger a slow motion close up of Monkey’s final blow to that mech. Looks cool the first couple of times, but gets pointless midway into the game.

Monkey is a brute that does all the fighting while trip helps by using her computer skills to hack doors, upgrade monkeys gear and distract turrets and mechs. While I do appreciate the Prince of Persia style of play, the game doesn’t give us anything new to the table. With simple gameplay mechanics, enslaved at first glance would look repetitive during fights but the game had good pacing to keep you interested. The climbing in Enslaved may look great but is very simple as well. All climbable ledges and pipes will be shiny, so finding where to climb isn’t that hard. If you have an idea where to go, just keep pressing the jump while directing which way to jump with the stick till you reach your target.

As you progress, Monkey will soon have the ability to shoot beams out of his staff. Yea weird I know. This gives the gameplay some variety during fights. Ammo is limited so you better aim well. Let’s not forget about trip, she’s not just baggage that you must carry around to the finish line. You can give her commands to help you out. Usually when there’s a turret in the area or mechs shooting you, pinning you down, you can ask trip to create a distraction so that you can slip through and take them out. Aside from making distractions, trip can heal Monkey, use a mini EMP when mechs get close to her and can upgrade Monkey’s gear.

The upgrades are the usual improvements seen in a game like this. On my first play through I was able to get 90% of the upgrades so it’s not very deep. The upgrades give new moves but the rest are mostly improving stuff you already have. Like more ammo for your staff, a longer charge move, more life, more shields, wider sweep, etc. One more thing you can do in enslaved is that Monkey has this device called the cloud which works like a floating disc for him to ride. It works only in some areas in the game and is mostly used for open areas and chase scenes that involve monkey saving trip. A good touch and pretty cool to play around with.

The boss fights in Enslaved were forgettable, nothing epic about them. There isn’t that much boss fights to begin with really, I can only count a handful of them and are easy to take out. So yes you’ve guessed it, it’s a very easy game and take note I started the game on hard difficulty and still felt easy. The one thing that bothered me the most was The Camera angles, during the whole game I was literally going against the camera. The Camera is too close to Monkey! When I start attacking or do some takedown move I always find myself moving the camera left or right after the attack to get a better angle.

Graphics and Sound

The game provides top-notch graphics. No problems here, the game looks fantastic from start to end. This is the first time I’ve seen a post-apocalyptic setting that isn’t all sand and junk, thank god! The world is colorful and vibrant. You can sense the age of the area and can tell that nature has taken over. The game brings you to all different kinds of local, from the old and dying New York City to a wasteland that inhabits old junk and water  mixed with mech fuel that are deadly when touched. The sound score of this game is also well made, it fits perfectly to the setting they were trying to present. There were occasional parts though that I encountered were the dialogue didn’t sync with the lips of the characters and I’ve experienced sound disappearing in a chase scene.

By now, we know that the game has horrible camera angles. Aside from the camera making the fights a pain, you have a hard time looking around to appreciate how well they developed this game. There are parts of the game where you get a chance to look on how great the game looks but with how well they created this world, I wish I could enjoy it anytime with ease. I literally paused one time and said “wow…pretttyyy…..”. I paused for a minute and took in that awesome view. You can tell they took a lot of time and effort into creating this world. If only there were better camera angles….

Overall

It’s been awhile since we’ve been blessed with a game that pulls you in with their story and their Characters, providing a good pace that keeps you hooked till the end. You play it, think its tons fun and when you’re done with, it gives you this lasting satisfaction that you gave it a chance. Ninja Theory should stick to the story-driven concept for their games and improve on it, they have a good thing going here and soon they will give us a game that might just blow us away. I was hoping this game would be it but sadly it wasn’t. This game is 11 hours long only and doesn’t provide any Multiplayer feature or anything after you’ve finished the game. Is it worth the buy? I say yes, it’s worth the experience and everybody should give it a go. but sadly with only the single player and no replay value (unless you’re an achievement junkie) People will have a hard time paying full price for this title.

Score: 75/100

REVIEW: God of War: Ghost of Sparta

God of War, the action adventure hack and slash punch everything in it's face with testosterone filled manliness series that's been around shedding virtual blood since it's first release on the Playstation 2. We once again join Kratos on his quest to find whatever the hell he's looking for this time.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Developer: Ready at Dawn Studios / Sony Computer Entertainment Santa Monica Studio

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America

Platform: Playstation Portable

Rating: M for Mature

Release: 11/2/2010

Ghost of Sparta is the sixth installment (including the PS3 remastered port God of War Collection) in the God of War series.

Graphics wise this is a huge notch up in comparison to the previous PSP God of War release which was God of War: Chains of Olympus. Taking notes from God of War III, Ghost of Sparta brings that same cinematic flair. Button inputs for the quick time events have also learned a lesson from God of War III with the buttons appearing on screen in the corresponding direction of it on the controller. This makes it easier to

Story:

Ghost of Sparta takes place in between God of War and God of War II wherein Kratos has dethroned Ares as the god of war and has now taken his place. While pondering on his thoughts, Kratos is haunted by visions of his mother and brother. Wondering what these visions mean, he sets off on another adventure but this time not for vengeance but in search of his brother Deimos.

A young Kratos sparring with his little brother

It was foretold that Olympus would fall not by the Titans, but by a marked warrior. Zeus thought this marked warrior to be Deimos, and sent Ares and Athena to take him. Kratos tries to stop Ares but is left with a scared right eye.

Gameplay:

God of War's core gameplay has never really changed over the years but it has been slowly refined with each iteration. Hitting the square button does light attacks, triangle for heavy attacks, circle for grab and cross for jumps. The L button let's Kratos guard and also sets up attack variants for his weapons. Most of his combos are the same but some have slightly changed but pretty much control the same. Having not played God of War III, I don't know if these new combos have been implemented on the PS3. Pressing both shoulder buttons and tilting the analog stick lets Kratos do a dodge roll.

Kratos does have new moves this time around. He has a move called the "Hyperion Charge" which is triggered by holding the L button then hitting circle. Kratos goes into this football player charge and tackles his opponent to the ground with a loud thud. When an enemy is downed by this move, you can continue to pummel your opponent by hitting either the square or circle buttons repeatedly.

As with every God of War game, Kratos learns some new magic moves and acquires new weapons. These are all mapped to the D-pad which is good considering the PSP's limited controls. Kratos earns three types of magic attacks this time around.

Pressing the Right button brings out the Eye of Atlantis with shoots a long ray of lightning.

Pressing the Left button uses the Scourge of Erinys which unleashes up to three dark orbs that suck out health from near by enemies.

Up unleashes the Horn of Boreas which Kratos spins and slams like a giant hammer, it damages and freezes surrounding enemies.

Hitting Down swaps out the regular Blades of Athena with the Arms of Sparta, a spear and a round shield similar to the equipment used by the Spartans in the movie 300. With the Arms of Sparta, Kratos can throw the spear to hit ranged opponents and walk while guarding with the shield.

Holding down the R button sets fire to the Blades of Athena, letting Kratos unleash powerful fire attacks with every swing.

Content Wise:

Even though this is a PSP game, this feels like a PS3 title. It's filled with extra content such as a challenge mode, galleries, extra costumes and something called The Temple of Zeus which holds unlock-able items that require blood orbs, and more blood orbs means another play through of the story mode or beating some challenges in the challenge mode.

God of War has always been a solid series for me, Gameplay isn't ground breaking because it's usually more of the same but the presentation and delivery of the story is always top notch. I wasn't that satisfied with the ending as much as I thought I'd be with everything being epic and then with the final battle being what it is. However it was still an exciting action and adrenalin fueled thrill ride. You may not like God of War for using the same formula over and over again but you got to admit, Kratos kicks all kinds of ass.

Screenshot provided by Gamespot

(Original post by Migoy)

Score: 92/100

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDN3aUzyctY&feature=player_embedded]

REVIEW: Call of Duty: Black Ops

One year since the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Activision decides to release a 7^th installment in the Call of Duty series. Call of Duty was always about those intense moments in Single Player but now they slowly evolved in also providing us with a satisfying Multiplayer formula that just works. Treyarch, The developers of Call of Duty: World at War decided to take another shot on another Call of Duty Title. With the success of Modern Warfare 2, this was the must buy Title in 2010 and is expected to be just as good as Modern Warfare 2. After completing the Campaign, killing zombies as JFK and spending at least 24 in-game hours into multiplayer, this Call of Duty Title still maintains the thing we love about this franchise and improved it for the better.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Developer: Treyarch

Publisher: Activision

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PC

Rating: MA 15+(PS3, Xbox 360, PC) M(Wii and DS version

Release: 11/9/10

Story and Presentation

Black Ops provides us with 3 modes to play around with. Single Player, the famous Multiplayer and Zombies. With just these 3 modes and some Easter eggs to find, this title delivers a huge package for players.I’ll say this right off the bat. Compared to all Call of Duty Single Player Campaigns, Black Ops Campaign is the best in series. While the intense moments that Call of Duty is famous for is still intact, with intense gun fights, cool breeching scenarios and the most brutal Call of Duty Title yet, everything was led by a great story. Throughout the campaign you mostly control Alex Mason. Alex wakes up and finds that he is strapped into a chair and is being constantly asked about past operations that he was in and the purpose of a series of numbers. Most of the missions are flashbacks of past Operations. Not only do you relive past Missions of Mason but you also relive certain Operations of different individuals that have a part in uncovering the truth.

Having Alex Mason being the center of the whole story gives a different feel compared to other Call of Duty franchise which I appreciate.  Each mission is completely different that keeps the pace fresh. From the war in Vietnam, exploring an abandoned ship in Russia, to the roofs of Hong Kong, you’re always dumped into fresh environments that keep you interested.  As I said, the story is top-notch. And at first it may seem confusing but everything comes together in unison that leaves you jaw dropped in the end.

Treyarch retained the reason why the Call of Duty Franchise is a success and made it their own by providing elements not seen before in the past Titles. World at War was their last Call of Duty game and they made a huge leap with Black Ops showing people that they are still around and better than before. With titles like these, because of multiplayer, Single Player gets overshadowed instantly.  Treyarch created a Single Player Experience that won’t make you feel like you want to just jump back into the multiplayer action but rather to know what happens next in the story. It’s hard to pull that off nowadays but Black Ops Single Player proves that it can still be done with a deep multiplayer in the mix.

There’s more to it than twenty against one gun fights in Black Ops. The Single Player provides a lot of scenarios that you get to experience. From rappelling and breaching through the windows, flying an apache through the Vietnam jungle, alerting your squad in a SR -71 Blackbird if danger is near, there’s a lot of instances like those to keep you at the edge of your seat. The fact that the story revolves around one man rather than a squad or an organization feels like events were ripped out of an action movie.

Aside from the impressive Single Player mode, we have mode called Zombies. It’s the replacement of Modern Warfare’s Co-op Spec ops missions. It’s pretty much you and 3 other friends surviving a zombie apocalypse. If you remember the Nazi Zombies mode then you will feel right at home here. As you try to survive,  the Character you are using usually make comments that are hilarious, especially what JFK says when fighting the undead. You are placed in an area to hold waves of zombies as long as you can. You earn Money by killing zombies and rebuilding Barricades, and can use those funds to buy weapons, ammo, and buffs.  You also have to use your money to access other rooms of the stage that provide better weapons and traps to prolong the inevitable. It’s a great mode to take a break and enjoy some zombie killing fun with some friends.

Gameplay Graphics and sound

Call of Duty has this similar formula when it comes to their Gameplay. In Black Ops, they retain the same mechanics which die-hard fans love so dearly. Even the HUD is exactly the same.  It may be similar to previous Call of Duty games, but who’s complaining? I’m not. For me, their gameplay just works. The guns feel great too. Each gun has a different feel when fired. You can feel the accuracy or rate of fire of each gun that you can easily tell if that certain gun is right for you or not. Gun sounds and explosion were also well done that might just satisfy a gun enthusiasts but I doubt it. As long as it doesn't sound like pee shooters and sounds close to the real thing I’ll be happy.

In Single Player, each level you have a starting primary and secondary weapon. Usually there’s enough ammo for you to retain the same guns from the start but there are so many guns lying around with different attachment that it’s a trip looking around to find guns like an AK-47 with a Flamethrower attachment. Some Guns are always seen placed conveniently for the player to see as if they are giving you a hint on what’s to come. Throughout the course of my play through I was using different kinds of guns found in the mission that proved effective.

AI could have been better, but it felt similar to Modern Warfare 2 AI. There’s no random AI standing in the open, but you still have those weird AI where they don’t get the memo that the player has flanked him. Even after a few hits, the AI still doesn't adjust.

The Graphics were great but there’s only slight improvement in detail if you compare it with the last Call of Duty title. Map Designs have more detail and lighting, and character models in single player were well designed in detail showing decent emotions. Single Player is where you can see the improvement in graphics. The multiplayer on the other hand is exactly the same as Modern Warfare 2. Map Design and Character design in terms of detail are exactly the same. There's n

Multiplayer!

Now that everything else is out of the way. It’s time to talk Multiplayer. The Multiplayer experience that makes players spends 80+ hours online reaching that 6^th or 8^th prestige. Fear not. Everything is intact with changes for the better.

One thing to take note right away is that now there’s an economy system. Aside from earning experience, you earn COD points. These points are spent to get everything the Multiplayer has to offer. From Kill streaks, Weapons, Weapon attachments, perks, equipment, everything. If you have enough money, you can get it. It lessens the grind to get that specific load out. Any perk can be bought at any time just like attachments. Buying attachments was a relief in Black Ops. The constant grind to unlock a specific attachment in Modern Warfare 2 was a chore. The economy system is a great addition to multiplayer, giving players better control on his/her progression as they level up.

The unlock system is still around. You unlock new guns, buy you don’t have access to them yet, you still need to buy it to be accessible. Aside from unlocking guns, you unlock other features in Multiplayer. Besides the usual unlocking custom classes, You can customize your character and your gun in many ways now. Gun Camo, face camo, and changing their Red dot reticle shape and color. You can also place your logo into your gun and clan name, which by the way is hard to notice on certain guns. These features will be unlocked as you progress in level.

You can be a little creative too in Black Ops. which has an option to create your own logo. You are given shapes to buy to make your own logo. You also buy layers so you may put more shapes to create a cool looking logo that represents you. There’s a series of shapes and images you can purchase to create your own logo. It’s a cool feature to further customize in the game.

If I have to describe Black Ops multiplayer in one word, it would be “balanced”. All the problems and exploits in Modern Warfare 2 are addressed in this title. You won’t have some kid running around with a knife knifing people, stacking up kills with kill streaks  and getting 30 -8 K/D anymore. I really hated that style. With Black Ops, the feel is more of what the multiplayer felt like in the first Modern Warfare. Perks are still around and finally feels like a bonus instead of an exploit waiting to happen. Right off the bat Black Ops has a total of 14 maps to play in. Each map is well designed, making you change your style of play depending on the map and mode.

Kill streaks are of course are back with many changes. They also feel balanced. Kill streak rewards don’t stack up your kill streaks anymore so achieving them is rewarding again. When you see someone unleash attack dogs, it’s either he was lucky with the Care Package drop(kill streak reward that rewards a random killstreak) or he literally got 11 kills in a row. This is how the Killstreaks should be; it should feel like an award for your success in the match. And I just want to say it, the RC- XD kill streak is just fun!

There’s a new feature in Call of Duty: Black Ops called Contracts. Think of them as mini goals during a match. You spend COD points to buy these contracts. When you complete the contract you earn more than the amount of COD points spent. Some contracts also reward XP along with COD points. You can buy 3 contracts in total. The goals of these contracts are usually for example kill 25 people with a silencer or be the top player in 2 domination matches.

The contracts available for purchase changes every 8 hours and contracts already finished may be repurchasing a few hours later if available after the 8 hours cycle. This is a great way to earn quick COD points and level up faster and it gives you something else to aim for during a match. Contracts don’t stay forever until finished, most contracts have the duration of an hour or 30 mins so if not successful the money spent on the contracts will be wasted. These small additions can make a difference into making matches very interesting and different. With the contracts you see players using different kinds of guns, kill streaks or attachment in attempt to complete the contract.

The usual game modes are still around but Black Ops has introduced something new that’s a good addition to their multiplayer. Wager matches are matches that make u place an ante at the lobby. At the end of the match, the top 3 players will be what Treyarch calls “ in the money” and will earn COD points depending if their 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd. There are five wager match modes to choose from.

One in the Chamber, Sticks and Stones, Sharpshooter and Gun game.  Each of these modes is really fun and unique to play with friends or be competitive with other players. There are 3 levels of ante’s to choose from. First one makes you bet a small amount while the next 2 makes you cough up a lot of dough. Playing the higher ante’s can provide a lot of pressure when playing the match. Risk 1,000 COD to earn more COD points? It all depends if you want to take the gamble.

Treyarch has also provided a Combat training mode in multiplayer. Yes you can practice! You can set up a match to practice with a bunch of AI if you don’t feel confident yet or you want to work on something specific. You can level up and earn XP and COD points for practice but the points and XP don’t carry on your actual account. Pretty neat if you ask me, a way to practice with unfamiliar load outs without hurting your stats.

Aside from Combat Mode you have Theatre mode, the last 10 games will be recorded and you have the choice to replay certain matches to get info if you choose. Aside from that you can save specific replays to share with your friends and the community. Got a 5 kill with one grenade??? Or a random tomahawk throw kill? You can view that replay and record that specific part of the replay into a new file. You can then upload it and share it.

With all these modes added in, Treyarch finally has given an option to play split screen online. A feature long overdue, you get to play online and level with a buddy in one console. Sadly, and I don’t know why it’s different, only the Xbox version allows you to do online splitscreen with 2 different profiles leveling up differently while the PS3 version you’re not allowed to do so. In the PS3 version your buddy will have to work with whatever you have unlocked and pick from whatever load out you have made. Why that is feature exclusive to Xbox?? Ask Activision and get back to me on that one because id like to know as well.

Overall

Now this Title is a PACKAGE. You have a robust Single Player Campaign that hooks you in for 10 hours. A co-op zombie mode that makes you either go split screen or tackle the zombie apocalypse with 3 other friends online. And of course the famous COD multiplayer mode that everybody loves and adores. It’s worth every penny. Treyarch should be proud of this Title. If you like First Person Shooters, this game is for you. Black Ops has something to offer for any First Person Shooter fan and should not be ignored. Finally we have a game that was hyped up so much and didn’t disappoint.

Score: 95/100

Customization Trailer

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0_r4-eTmlA&feature=player_embedded]

REVIEW: Split/Second (PSP)

It's sort of an unwritten rule that almost every action film should have an adrenalin fueled car chase full of explosions with any disregard for property damage. If you ever wanted to know how that feels like then Split/Second is the game for you. Filled with flying cars, explosions and crumbling debris, this action packed arcade racer will laugh, cry, swear at the driver AI, jump for joy or possibly throw your PSP across the room. Whichever the result may be, you definitely have to try this game out.

Split/Second Developer: Black Rock Studio / Sumo Digital Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. Platform: Playstation Portable Rating: E for Everyone Release: 11/17/2010

The Gist of Things:

You participate in a fictional reality TV show called Split/Second where drivers race for money and glory. This type of racing is a little different from your standard racing. Tracks a littered with traps and explosives that can be trigger by the driver, these are called powerplays. So you drive around, build up your powerplay meter to wreck your opponents cars with and reach the finish line. Sounds simple enough right? With 27 cars and 16 courses to choose from, you can expect a lot of action, suspense, thrills, and a whole mess of explosions in this game.

Story:

Aside from the whole reality TV show thing, there really isn't much else to the story of Split/Second. You have no character, you don't interact with any NPCs. You just drive. Remember this though, once you beat the Single Player Season mode, I bet you'll be as surprised as I was when that final cutscene rolled.

Gameplay and Features:

As I mentioned earlier, you drive around and use powerplays to take out your opponents. Powerplays are essentially your weapons in the game. No Koopa shells for you but I think a flaming bus rolling from the side or a collapsing building is a good replacement for taking out the competition don't you think?

Powerplays:

Your powerplay meter is divided into 3 chunks, each chunk can activate one blue colored powerplay. Having three built up in your meter, you can trigger the bigger powerplays which have a red colored icon. Blue ones trigger small traps like setting off a flaming bus to roll over rivals or blow up a truck that could careen cars straight into a wall. Blue powerplays can also open small shortcuts that might be available for you to zoom through and take the lead.

Red powerplays trigger the big stuff, perhaps a tip over a docked cruise ship or call down a large airplane to crash onto the runway. Red powerplays can also trigger route changes which could change the flow of a race completely.

Single Player:

Single player mode is divided into 3 other modes. Season mode let's you race in episodes. There are 12 episodes with each holding 6 events. There are 7 events.

Race is your standard racing mode which pits you against 7 other cars and your goal is to reach the finish line after 3 laps.

Detonator has you drive through a course as fast as you can while powerplays trigger automatically. This is one of the cooler modes because here you get that instant "action movie" feel with things blowing up everywhere and you having to dodge left and right constantly while racing against the clock to reach the goal. This mode let's you see almost all the powerplays in effect and witness the grand scale of destruction that the game offers.

Elimination has you racing against a timer. The car in last place gets eliminated every time the timer hits zero so your objective is to reach 1st place and stay in 1st place as long as you can.

Air Strike pits you against a chopper which fires waves of missiles at you. Your goal is to survive as long as you can while racking up points for avoiding the missiles. Targets appear on the track and show where the missiles will land.

Air Revenge is a variant of the Air Strike event. Instead of just dodging missiles, you build up your powerplay meter. Using a powerplay will trigger a missile scrambler which will send missiles back to the chopper. You goal is to take out the chopper as fast as you can.

Survival will have you racing through a track which has trucks driving around. These trucks will drop explosive barrels and will try to slow you down. You earn points by passing as many trucks as you can. There is also a timer present in this mode. The event ends when either you reach 1st place or crash while the timer is down to zero.

The last event is called Elite Race and is only available in Season mode. The driver AI is very aggressive in this mode and often times activated the big powerplays. Stakes are high as you need to place third or higher to unlock the next episode.

The next game mode in single player is Quick Race. Here you have access to all 16 courses and all 6 event types except Elite Race.

There is also a Challenge mode available in the single player option. With only 3 challenges to choose from and only 1 course for each challenge, this feels tacked on a bit underwhelming. Destruction will have you drive around and wrecking rival cars increases your score and bonus time. Power Slide lets you drift around to earn points and bonus time. Keep On Truckin' is the more unique of the challenges, it's the same premise as Survival mode but instead of using one of the regular vehicles, you actually take control of one of the Split/Second trucks and instead of dodging just barrels, you also have to dodge rigged rival cars the explode on impact. Now the truck itself can't crash but hitting the exploding cars can reset your points multiplier back to one.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer for this game is simple and runs through local Ad-Hoc with up to four players. I wish it would've reached up to 8 maximum players so races could be more hectic and exciting though. It's pretty standard, you can choose only 3 event types (race, elimination and survival) but have access to all 16 courses.

Split/Second for the PSP is a very good port of it's console counter part. It did a lot of things right but the game is without faults. I did encounter a few glitches like clipping and me falling through the ground maybe twice. Some glitches worked for the better though, like one time in detonation mode, I kept crashing so I had to restart the event multiple times. When I paused the game after I restarted, I left it until my PSP went into sleep mode. When I turned it back on, the game said I completed the race and came in 1st place. So now I have one event in Season mode wherein my best time is 0:00:00. Another glitched that I benefited from was when I just fell through the ground and magically teleported in 1st place. I ended up coming in second place for that race but I got a good laugh out of it.

With the game being on the PSP, I'm sure it's going to be neglected and looked at as a throw away shovel-ware title but it's a very good port of the original game. Graphics wise car models could have looked a bit better but it's very solid overall. Where the graphics shine is in the environments. Hitting powerplays look good, especially the big ones and it's satisfying to blow up a dam, take out all 7 opponents and zoom to 1st from 8th place, both visually and personally. I do have one gripe with the game though, it's nothing game breaking but it annoyed me greatly as I was starting out. And that is the crash physics, it looks so cheap and wonky on the PSP. I call it "gummy bear physics" because when a car crashes, it looks the same as throwing a gummy bear at a wall and watching it bounce off like it has no weight. It's very minor and didn't keep me from enjoying the game a great deal. I had a lot of moments where it clearly looked that I was not going to place in 1st. But one well placed powerplay can change all that. It only takes a split second to turn the tides.

Score: 76/100

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8W9eFaCM9o&feature=player_embedded]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpnUzI04_1s&feature=player_embedded]

(Original Post by Migoy)