Metal Gear Retrospective: Introduction

Metal Gear. Since the original game landed on the MSX2 in 1987, the franchise has become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful franchises in the medium. With an incredibly complex, gripping and emotionally engaging story, complex and flawed characters, in-depth social commentary, outstanding gameplay, and some of the best damn boss fights ever made, it has easily earned that honor.

Complex storytelling and excellent gameplay have made Metal Gear one of the critically and commercially successful franchises on the market.

Since I started this blog, I have made it no secret that I am a huge fan of the series. I have consistently listed it as one of my Top 3 Franchises along with Metroid and Mass Effect. I've labeled Solid Snake and Big Boss two of the most engaging and complex protagonists in the medium and even made a Top 20 list of the best boss fights in the series (they are that good).

Now, it is time for me to pay full tribute to this remarkable series with my first retrospective. For this retrospective, we will only be looking at the games that are canon to the main story (with one exception which I'll explain when I get to it). For those not knowledgeable on the series, here is the list of the canon games and the order I'll be doing them in.

• Metal Gear
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
• Metal Gear Solid
• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Full story summaries, analysis, gameplay overviews, boss fights, a look at the history of the making of the series, etc. I will also be going over the impact it has had on the industry, as well as giving my own thoughts for each game as I go through them.

Some games will only have one blog entry on them, whereas some will have multiple, depending on how complex each one is and if I feel that it's becoming unwieldy in one blog entry. There will also be spoilers to the max. I will give spoiler warnings before anything major and also let you know when they are done. At the end I will also be posting a massive story overview in chronological order with all the revelations from the series placed in context.

I hope to post the first part sometime later this week. If a post comes up later than I said, just keep in mind that this is a very complex series and I'm attempting to structure things to make them as clean and organized as possible.

I can't wait to begin writing it and I hope you all enjoy my look at one of the finest series of games in existence.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

For those of you wondering about the Metroid and Silent Hill retrospectives, they will come. I eventually realized that I had to do my two favorite franchises, Metroid and Metal Gear before any others (Mass Effect wasn't considered given how new it is). I left it up to friends of mine to vote for it and the majority voted Metal Gear. I hope that clears up any confusion.

END NOTE

Mass Effect 3 - Retaliation Multiplayer DLC

On Tuesday, Mass Effect 3's co-op is getting a massive update. A new DLC pack titled Retaliation will be released and it will be completely free like all of the multiplayer packs before it. Retaliation will add a new enemy faction to the three already there: Reapers, Cerberus, and Geth. With this DLC, the Collectors from Mass Effect 2 will become an enemy faction, though I guess you could say they still fall under the Reapers.

But that's not all. New weapons and characters will be added of course, including what looks like a JETPACK TURIAN AND THAT IS AWESOME!

Turian with a jetpack = the coolest thing I've seen all week.

Whether there are all new maps, I don't know, but I do know that certain old maps will also be given a hazard treatment. What the hell is a hazard treatment you ask? Well, they'll be putting environmental hazards into the stage which will give even more obstacles to have fun with.

On top of this, if you played Mass Effect 3's multiplayer after last night's patch, you might have noticed challenge boxes come up but with no explanation for what they are. Well, BioWare is adding challenges to the multiplayer, similar to Call of Duty's. These will be used to unlock items, and what exactly those items will be, I don't know and they might even be simply cosmetic but I would like it anyway simply because of the perfectionist in me that would like to complete stuff like that.

And again, it is free. After the Leviathan DLC, I was expecting the free DLC to stop but apparently some is still coming, so get your games set for Tuesday and I'll see you on the warfront.

Now if we could just get information on the Omega DLC. I hope that means Aria will have a big part in it. Damn I love that character.

Assassin's Creed III - Connor's Story

Yes I'm finally posting again. Well Assassin's Creed III is less than a month away and it looks amazing. The new trailer released today gives a greater look at the character of Connor Kenway, the protagonist of ACIII, and his motivations.

One of the things that I'm very excited about is simply seeing a new character in the first place. While Ezio was an excellent protagonist, by the time of Revelations, I felt that he overstayed his welcome and I got tired of seeing him. The Animus is a story device with so many different possibilities and it's great to see a new scenario with it. Connor is looking like a strong protagonist and I'm really anticipating seeing his story play out.

Note: A Metroid retrospective will be beginning sometime next week.

E3 2012 - South Park: The Stick of Truth

I've been unexpectedly excited about the new South Park RPG since it was announced. Given how crappy most television tie-in games have been and how crappy of a track record South Park has with video games (one or two downloadable games aside), what made me excited about this?

Primarily, it's developer: Obsidian Entertainment. Obsidian is very much a "love it or hate it" developer and for understandable reasons. The RPGs they develop usually have a great amount of depth and great writing, but they're also known for being bugged up the ass and for feeling unfinished. I might talk more about Obsidian as the game comes closer to release but my overall opinion is that they're a developer that makes great titles that unfortunately don't meet their full potential.

Hopefully that will be broken here, but no matter what I'm thinking that we can expect a quality RPG with a good amount of depth to it.

Another reason I'm excited is that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are getting a lot of creative control. This really didn't happen with South Park games in the past which were probably a factor in their poor quality.

I'm posting two videos here. The first is Matt and Trey talking about the game briefly at the Microsoft press conference. The second is the trailer itself.

And now for the trailer.

WARNING: The trailer below has anti-semitic remarks and foul language...but if those trouble you then why the hell are you watching a trailer for a South Park game.

As has been stated before, the game will be a turn-based RPG. I don't know exactly why they went this route instead of real-time so don't ask me. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just curious why they took that style.

You'll also be able to choose between five opening classes: Fighter, Mage, Thief, Cleric and...Jew. The offensive humor is definitely there as seen by the trailer and the classes themselves. Definitely a plus.

I also laughed my ass off when I saw Professor Chaos. No not the small one, but the freakishly huge one with the anime art-style from the excellent episode, Good Times with Weapons.

Overall, I'm quite excited about this and can't wait for March 5 which will see the release of both this and Tomb Raider.

E3 2012: Gears of War Judgment Teaser

Hopefully, all of you know by now that I am not the biggest Gears of War fan. I've played the first two and enjoyed them but they just never grabbed. I still haven't played 3 (it's still on my list) so I didn't really care when a new Gears of War was announced.

But I got the teaser anyway and a bit of news caught my attention which I'll get into after the teaser.

Okay, not a bad teaser. But what really caught my attention that I didn't see in the teaser: the developer.

Gears of War Judgment is being developed by People Can Fly, the developers of Painkiller and the criminally underrated and overlooked Bulletstorm. While I'd rather they be developing a Bulletstorm sequel, especially given the cliffhanger that it ended on, I'll still look into what they do with the franchise. But after this, please make another Bulletstorm.

E3 2012: Tomb Raider - My Faith Restored

I feel like I was one of the few people who was unimpressed by Tomb Raider's showing at E3 last year. The cinematic trailer was great showing that it would primarily be more like a survival story than just a treasure hunt which, let's be honest, Uncharted has pretty much hijacked at this point.

However, the gameplay trailer did not impress me. All I saw were a bunch of quicktime events. Now I'm not one of those who hates all quicktime events but an enormous amount are not good. I should also clarify that it depends on the game and I don't like a lot of them in a game like Tomb Raider.

This recent trailer has restored my faith in this being the potentially strong reboot that this franchise really needs.

The emphasis on the survival continues showing brutal attempts by Lara to do so on a seemingly deserted island. I'm hoping there's a bigger emphasis on platforming in order to separate it from Uncharted. I know that Tomb Raider was first but at this point, Uncharted has such a foothold that Tomb Raider needs to distinguish itself from it.

From what I can hear, the voice acting is iffy in places and definitely needs some work, but giving Lara Croft a vulnerability looks like it might work great.

Some have stated that they're worried about this turning into Other M, but there are key differences between this and Other M which I know of even before the game is out. If I see any comparisons continue I might make a post about that but I really hope people can see the differences themselves so that won't be necessary.

Overall, still some worries, but this left a much better impression on me than last year's showing.

E3 2012: Dishonored Gameplay is Good and Bloody

Being described as a combination of Bioshock, Elder Scrolls, Thief, Assassin's Creed, and Deus Ex, all of those games' influences can be seen in the new gameplay trailer for Dishonored. Well, except Deus Ex but apparently that's supposed to be more in terms of the story.

The three minute trailer shows us a good amount of the first-person stealth-melee gameplay involved and shows the influences of the games mentioned above with atmosphere similar to Bioshock and Thief, a second hand using powers similar to Bioshock and Elder Scrolls, the kill animations look similar to Elder Scrolls and much of the scenery and art style look similar to the renaissance as used in Assassin's Creed II. And it looks bloody. Really, really bloody.

It does have me intrigued and looks like a really fun time. The sites that I go to, or the forums at least, have a lot of people hyping this game. Hopefully it lives up to it.

Blog Resuscitated: Updates, Trailers and News

I'm back. Yes it's been a long while since the last post but I've been swamped. The last semester was brutal and I've also been hunting for internships for a while now.

So what's the position of the blog now?

Well, as for the Mass Effect 3 review, it feels too late now. I'll sum it up though. The game is spectacular with a crappy last 10 minutes. You've probably heard that before and it's because it's true. I do highly recommend it, but just be wary of those last 10 minutes. Before that though, it's an incredibly emotionally-engaging storyline with moments that are almost guaranteed to move you to tears.

Now, as for the for the Metal Gear retrospective. I'm currently putting that on hold in favor of a Metroid retrospective. The Metal Gear one will also come but I want a good amount of time and planning to get that down. Metroid will be much easier to handle.

Retro reviews will be starting up again later this summer with Baldur's Gate series.

Finally, E3 starts tomorrow so get ready for a slew of posts to make up for the lack over the past month and a half.

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Harley Quinn's Revenge

First up, my thoughts on the Harley Quinn DLC for Batman: Arkham City.

For those of you who forgot my thoughts on the main game, I'll refresh. Arkham City was, simply put, the best game I played all year last year. It's gameplay was simply impeccable, it's open-world design well-executed, it had a twisting and solid storyline with excellent voice acting and some of the most sadistic portrayals of certain Batman villains ever.

Now as for Harley Quinn's Revenge, I was unsatisfied. As you would expect the gameplay is similar but the design is limited only to the Industrial Mill of Arkham City. It really comes down to the story though.

Following the events of the main game, Harley Quinn has become even more unhinged and psychotic than she already was. This is the part that was well-executed. The writing and voice acting from the incredibly talented Tara Strong really give off an even more deranged persona than there was in the main game.

The part that disappointed me was Batman. They say throughout the entire DLC that he's not been himself since the end of the main game. And that is never looked into beyond that. I suppose it's hinting at future DLC or the sequel (whenever that comes) but it left me wanting more from this.

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Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Trailer

I've been very mixed on the stuff that I've seen for the new Metal Gear game. The new trailer shown at Konami's pre-E3 press conference still has me mixed.

Okay, on the one hand, the gameplay looks excellent and really fun. I wouldn't expect any different from Platinum Games, the makers of freaking Bayonetta.

The problem is that it doesn't feel like Metal Gear. That for me is not a huge problem but it's still something that currently bothers me. Maybe the story will give it the Metal Gear feel but I'm just not quite getting it right now.



Well, that's it for now. Tomorrow E3 begins.

Compsoles is back!

Dark Souls on PC, Dragon Age III, and Crysis 3

Hey everyone, I'm not dead and the Mass Effect 3 review and Top X list is still coming. I know it's really late and I haven't posted in a while but I have been crazy busy. But here's some news (some of it old I admit).

Dark Souls was one of my Top 10 games of 2011 making the #2 spot right behind Batman: Arkham City. It's difficulty was great and its sense of progression incredibly rewarding. PC players have been clamoring for a PC version of the game since its release back in October. Namco is listening and a PC version of the game will be released on August 24th.

The PC version will have new bosses that weren't in the original version plus some possible other extras. I'm personally hoping that they will add these to the console versions at some point like CD Projekt Red is doing with The Witcher 2.

Controversy has stemmed over the fact that to use online, you have to use Games for Windows Live. Not knowing much about the service myself, I can't really comment. However, I can guarantee that as long as the controls are nailed down, this is definitely a game for PC players to look at.

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BioWare is completely done with Dragon Age II. After two pieces of DLC, one of which was lackluster (Legacy), the other of which was great (Mark of the Assassin), BioWare had planned one more piece of DLC but has decided to drop it in favor of moving onto Dragon Age III.

I replayed Dragon Age II recently and I stand by what I said in my review in comparison to Dragon Age: Origins: better story, weaker game. Many disagree with me on the first part but I have my reasons for my love of DAII's story and my enjoyment of it over Origins. Dragon Age II's story was more personal and on a smaller scale with even grayer morality than the original. It started out slow but the second and third arc were spectacular. Dealing the qunari was fascinating and the mage/templar conflict was very well set-up throughout the game.

However, the rest of the game was definitely inferior and BioWare is trying to assure us that they have listened to our complaints. They have mentioned our complaints about the repetitive dungeon design (one of my biggest complaints), lack of depth compared to Origins, and even commented on our complaints about the Mass Effect 3 ending (my spoiler-free thoughts on that when I put up the review). 

While I do love BioWare, all I can say is to show us, not just tell us. E3 is coming up in a few months and that's your chance to show us what you're doing. I'm still excited for the game and want it to be an improvement over a game that was good but nowhere near the standard I expect from BioWare. All that said, I'm intrigued as to where the story will go. Like I said, the mage/templar conflict was fascinating in DAII and now we've got a full civil war about to start. So I'll keep my eyes open and hope that BioWare justifies their claims.

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When Crysis was released on PC in 2007, it was graphical and design powerhouse. It looked beautiful and map designs were open and gave great freedom to the player. Last year's Crysis 2 was a controversial release that scaled back the graphics and design in order to fit it on consoles. It was still critically acclaimed but many PC players felt gipped.

That will probably continue as Crysis 3 has been announced for a Spring 2013 release on the PC and all consoles including the Wii-U. Another complaint raised by a lot of PC players was that the game took place in New York rather than in a jungle the way the original had. Well, that complaint goes unanswered as Crysis 3 will be taken back to New York. I personally don't get why you would set a game like this in the same city twice in a row in a series. It seems like you'd run out of design options at a point.

I played a bit of both games and did prefer the original from what I played. Based on what I've read, I'm not too excited about getting into Crysis 3. We'll have to see what happens from here but it's just not clicking.

Mojang and Bethesda Settle and Diablo III Release Date

Hey guys. I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything but I've been playing a LOT of Mass Effect 3. The review will hopefully be up tomorrow or Wednesday, followed by two other posts, one about the ending and then a list of the best moments from the game.

But two pieces of news that I want to mention.

First up, the Mojang v. Bethesda lawsuit that Tyler and I had talked about so much on the podcast, is finally over and in a predictable way. The suit was over Mojang's upcoming game, Scrolls, which Bethesda stated infringed on their copyright because of their series The Elder Scrolls. It was dumb case that had no legs to support it. If it wasn't going to go Mojang's way, it was going to be a settlement.

The settlement gives the full licensing right of the Scrolls name to ZeniMax, Bethesda's parent company, and in turn they licensed the name to Mojang for their game Scrolls. They also will not make an Elder Scrolls competitor using the name. Both parties seemed pleased with the final settlement and hopefully we can now put this bullcrap behind us.

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Last month, I talked about how Diablo III was delayed once again. Originally supposed to come out in Q1 of 2012, it was pushed back to around to Q2 of 2012. We finally have a definitive release date for the title.

Diablo III now has a release date for most of the world on May 15th. In Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico gamers will be able to download it digitally on that day and retail copies will become available on June 7th.

No word yet on how this effects the possible release date of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm or any other upcoming Blizzard products but it's good to know that Diablo III will finally get its release.

MASS EFFECT 3 RELEASES TOMORROW - What I'm Excited About

We are one day away from the release of Mass Effect 3, without a doubt, my most anticipated game of all-time. The first two games were spectacular and have told arguably my favorite story in video game and one of my all-time favorite sci-fi stories.

A remarkable universe, excellent dialogue, outstanding storytelling and absolutely superb voice acting have been the cornerstones that have made this series great and memorable. With luck those will continue into the final game of this incredible trilogy.

So what am I most looking forward to in this trilogy's finale? Well, it's hard to narrow it down to just one thing, so I've got a list of the things that I'm most looking forward to experiencing in Mass Effect 3. This is not a traditional list. Rather, it's a list of five things that I'm most curious in experiencing with no real order to them. So here we go. WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ME1 AND ME2 BELOW!

#1. SOUNDTRACK

A bit of a different one than the others but something that I'm very excited to hear. The first Mass Effect had a brilliant sci-fi soundtrack with a good helping of techno and synth that added to the mood. While Mass Effect 2 still had a great soundtrack, it didn't quite have the same feel as the first game's.

This has apparently changed from the pieces that I've heard and they've been SPECTACULAR. The piece from a mission on Mars in particular, which I have below, has made me come to the conclusion that this has the potential to be the best soundtrack in the entire series. Please let me be right. It sounds so good.

#2. CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS

The Mass Effect series has one of the finest cast of characters in all of gaming. Nearly all are complex and in-depth and their relationships with Commander Shepard have been one of the main draws of the series for me. As we come to the end of this trilogy, it's time to see where the relationships go.

I'm particularly interested in Shepard's relationship with the Virmire Survivor (Ashley Williams/Kaidan Alenko). Good friends and comrades in the first game Shepard and Ashley/Kaidan parted on a bitter note in Mass Effect 2, with Shepard reluctantly working with a terrorist organization. Recent videos still show quite a bit of tension between the two and it has me really curious as to where that will lead.

But other relationships also increase my anticipation. Will my Shepard get the happy ending with Liara that she's been hoping for? What role will Legion, Wrex, Mordin, Miranda, etc. play? I could go on for a while but I'm simply so excited to see the culmination of all of the character development we've so far. Almost there.

#3. WHAT IS THE ILLUSIVE MAN PLANNING?

What are you planning you magnificent bastard?

Quite possibly the most intriguing character in the entire series is the mysterious Illusive Man, head the pro-human terrorist organization, Cerberus. Martin Sheen was perfectly cast as the character, giving a perfect combination of sinisterness and charm. In Mass Effect 2, he gave, in my mind, the second best performance in the game, second only to Jennifer Hale as FemShep. In a series lauded for having some of the finest voice acting imaginable, that equates to a really, REALLY good performance.

Now, as we come to the end, one of my biggest questions is "What is he planning?" The Illusive Man, and by extension BioWare, have done a superb job of keeping his greater plans under wraps. I would not put anything past him. This is a man who, I feel, is capable of anything. If he's planning a massive Xanatos Gambit, he is fully capable of pulling it off.

#4. THE POLITICS

Will we finally be able to respond to the turian councilor's airquotes with our own airquotes?

Mass Effect is a very politically driven franchise. The series is just as much about political conflicts and power struggles as it is about the conflict with the Reapers. With an entire galaxy at war for its survival against an ancient enemy and many species attempting to take advantage of the chaos, I'm very curious to see the political climate that will be in Mass Effect 3.

So far we've got tensions between the salarians and krogan, humans and turians, a 300 year old conflict between the quarians and geth with the quarians wanting to break the ceasefire, a cold war brewing on something larger between humans and batarians, etc. There are so many possibilites here and it's making me salivate in anticipation. Can they possibly come together to fight a common enemy that has committed galactic genocide countless times? That is a big question and one that I can't wait to see the answer to.

#5. HOW DO WE STOP THE REAPERS?

The Reapers are a terrifying force and antagonistic group. They're basically mechanical Cthulhu. Unimaginably powerful, ancient, sentient starships that have committed systematic galactic genocide every 50,000 years for at least 37 million years, and I'd bet everything that they've been doing it far longer. And that's already over 700 civilizations wiped out.

The Reapers are among the most powerful antagonists I've ever seen. How powerful are they? Well at the end of the first game, it took around 40 ships to destroy ONE Reaper, around two fleets. And while it appears that Sovereign was an exceptionally powerful Reaper and most are not that powerful, even the weakest ones take a massive amount of punishment to even dent.

So the question is, how are they going to be stopped. It's obvious that right now, they are not going to be beaten in a straight-up fight. From what I've heard, Mass Effect 3 will revolve around Shepard both building up galactic forces and look for ANYTHING that might offer some hope.

This leads into another question: what are they and where did they come from? Part of what has made them so terrifying (not counting the mind rape that is indoctrination, what they do to those they don't kill, etc.) is that we know barely anything about them. As Sovereign said, "[We] are beyond your comprehension." We got limited answers in the second game but they still remain an enigmatic force and are all the more terrifying because of it.

All I know, is I cannot wait to stick it to them and I hope you all are as well. The Reaper invasion will begin tomorrow when Mass Effect 3 finally hits stores. So get your Shepards ready and get set to kick some Reaper ass.

Metal Gear Retrospective: Intro

Metal Gear. Those two words represent one of the most respected and widely acclaimed franchises in all of gaming. If you look up professional lists of the 10 best gaming franchises, Metal Gear is likely to be there. Hell, it's my #2 following only Metroid and Mass Effect trailing behind it.

What makes the series so great? While it wasn't the first stealth franchise, it did popularize stealth in video games. It's got an incredibly in-depth and complex story, some would argue overly so. It's characters are beyond memorable and iconic, from Solid Snake and Big Boss to Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot. There is arguably no series better for boss fights than this one. I made a Top 20 list of the best boss fights from this series and there's a reason it had to be 20.

Despite not having the best dialogue, the voice acting is consistently excellent. Cutscenes go on a little long but they still succeed in telling a compelling storyline and drawing out emotion from players. It's fourth-wall breaking humor is always enjoyable and its excellent mix of patient stealth and awesome action is the perfect balance.

I've been planning on doing a retrospective of this series for a while and if I haven't conveyed my love for this series enough, this should hopefully sell it. It may take a little while, especially with Mass Effect 3 two days away but I hope that this provides a great look back at one of the all-time greats or serve as a gateway for those who have never played it before.

So keep your eyes open as starting soon, I'll be looking at the series in the order they released in. Only the canon games though. Only one thing to say, "Metal Gear?!?"

Mass Effect 3 Launch Trailer, Assassin's Creed III, Bioshock Release Date,

We are four days away from the release of Mass Effect 3 and with any release, a launch trailer has been released. It does what I expect Mass Effect to do and love it for. A good combination of drama and action. Not much to say beyond that so here it is.

Open with one of Clint Mansell's pieces for the game, and we can also see that the Destiny Ascension is coming back. Geth and Quarians fighting, turian ships fighting Reapers, the Illusive Man threatening Shepard, and Banshees still creeping me the frack out, a lot happened in this trailer.

But it was the ominous and quiet phrase that Liara said at the end amid just an enormous amount of destruction that sold this trailer for me, "This is it, isn't it?" Yes Liara, in more ways than one. This is going to be a great journey.

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I probably really haven't stated enough that I really dislike the practice of once per year releases. Not just because it will likely affect the quality of the game but because it takes all of the suspense and excitement out of waiting for a new release and official announcements.

Such has become the case of the Assassin's Creed series. That said, the fact that we're finally moving away from Ezio definitely gives a bit more excitement to see what's cooking in ACIII. And we've got some news on that front. The details of this are coming from CVG by the way.

The new setting for Assassin's Creed III will be in colonial America. It will take place over a 30 year period from 1753 to 1783. You will play as Connor, the son of an Englishman and a Native American woman. Like 2, it will start before he becomes an assassin and will go over his childhood. Some complained that this made the beginning of Assassin's Creed II slow and boring but I disagree. It did a great job of establishing Ezio's character and making me care about him and see his motivations, a huge turn from Altair.

Here's our first look at Connor:

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Finally, Bioshock Infinite is another huge release for 2012 and it appears that we finally have a release date.

Bioshock Infinite currently has a release date set for October 16, 2012. Very excited to see the final product. The first was awesome even if it didn't quite hit the same level as System Shock 2. The second was good but nowhere near the level I expected.

With Ken Levine back on, this should be a great ride.

Mass Effect 3: Galaxy Exploration and Mars

Hey guys. Just wanted to post this to show that I'm not dead.

I'm aware it's been a while since I last posted but I've been swamped and have really not found a good time to post anything. But, for now, I'm going to post a few videos of Mass Effect 3.

By the way, I've been playing the demo and while the animations aren't the best, it's been really fun, and the multiplayer has been spectacular. I'm absolutely shocked at how good it is. But let's get into these videos.

NOTE: These videos are from IGN so thanks to them for the extra footage.

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One of the biggest complaints about Mass Effect 2 was the tedious mining system. BioWare has heard your criticisms and have streamlined it. Now you'll just look for war assets in each system and cluster. And there are some clusters that have Reapers in them. In these you'll need to send out scanning pulses near planets to look for survivors, runaway ships, fuel, weapons, etc. All of these things will aid you in the final parts of the game and help decide the ending.

But beware. If you use a pulse too much in Reaper-occupied territory, they will come to investigate and chase after you which will mean that you need to stay out of the system until a mission is completed. The new system looks great, tense and calls for careful usage to maximize its effect.

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IGN also posted gameplay footage from a mission on Mars. If you've played the demo, you know what to expect.

SPOILERS: We can see Cerberus up to some mysterious behavior and Liara back in form :D The relationship between Shepard and the Virmire Survivor (Ashley/Kaidan) also still seems to be quite tense and uncertain.

And yes Destin, the Vanguard is awesome.

Release Dates, Diablo III Delayed, Ratings in Australia

Two big games have had their release dates announced: Darksiders II and Far Cry 3.

Now I haven't played the first Darksiders, though it is on my list. I know a lot of people are really excited about it though and it's coming out at a time of year where, strangely, not many big games come out: summer. Darksiders II will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 26th in North America and June 29th in Europe.

For those of you waiting for the Wii-U version, it will be a launch title.

As for Far Cry 3, it currently has a release date of September 6th. That's on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Not having played either of the first two Far Cry games, I can't really comment on it. From what I've heard, the first was solid and the second was kind of a let down.

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Diablo III has been delayed again. What a surprise. The game that has been in the making for over a decade was scheduled to come out in Q1 2012. In a recent earnings call, Activision has, unfortunately, confirmed that no new games will be coming out in Q1. This means that the earliest we'll see Diablo III is April-June of this year in Q2.

While WoW: Mists of Pandaria and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, are also expected to be released this year, hints have been dropped by Blizzard (including this delay) that it will probably not happen.

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Australia may finally be getting an R18+ rating for video games. A recent piece of legislation presented to parliament by Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare has proposed that an "adult's only" R18+ rating be given to video games no later than January of 2013.

Clare cited facts that showed that the average gamer is about 32 years old with women also making up half of the gaming demographic. He played this quite smart, also going into how it would help the Australian economy by allowing more games to come in and without companies having to butcher them to them "acceptable".

Coming from me, this is also win-win. Without the R18+ rating, some games are given leeway for the MA15 rating which anyone can buy, thus meaning any kids could buy without parental permission. The other times they result in butchered imports or classification refusal, effectively banning the games from stores. The R18+ rating would prevent both of these, meaning everyone wins.

So good luck Australia. I hope you're finally given the right to choose to play anything you damn well want to play.

Mass Effect 3: FemShep Trailer

Anyone who has read this blog much knows that I have been a big supporter of Female Commander Shepard. I play as both Male Shepard and Female Shepard, but for me FemShep will always be the true Shepard primarily due to Jennifer Hale's absolutely superb voice acting.

Unfortunately, she's never gotten much marketing support. In mid-2011, BioWare saw the push for her to get more of that and decided to remedy it, with the promise of giving her more screentime in trailers, unique in-game animations, plus a trailer of her own.

Well, the trailer has finally come in and here it is.

Okay, first of all, three squadmates from Mass Effect 2 who haven't been seen in ME3 marketing yet are here: Jacob Taylor, Miranda Lawson, and Samara (or possibly Morinth). I'm actually quite impressed with this. I didn't know if BioWare was just going to do a quick teaser but they went all out with this trailer. Got me even more pumped than before. Less than a month to go.

Oh and at the end: SHE'S A'FIRIN HER LAZER! Sorry I had to do it. Can't wait to see my Shepard finish her fight against the Reapers. March 6th is almost here.

Mass Effect 3 Trailers

NOTE: THERE ARE VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE THAT COMBINE THE FOUR TRAILERS BELOW. I WANTED TO SEPARATE THEM TO GIVE MY THOUGHTS ON EACH OF THEM. HERE'S A LINK IF YOU JUST WANT THAT.

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Well, Mass Effect 3 marketing and my coverage of that marketing continues. We had FOUR trailers released yesterday and I believe one is supposed to come today (which means I will probably be making another post later).

Anyway, the first trailer go over the enemies with possibly the first look at Kai Leng, a Cerberus assassin who is sent to kill Shepard after s/he is betrayed by Cerberus. Having read the novel Mass Effect: Retribution, I can say right now that Kai Leng is a huge badass, right up there with Shepard. I can't wait for the fight against him in ME3.

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Next we've got a trailer showing off some more gameplay footage. Probably more than any other trailer, this one shows just how smooth the gameplay looks in Mass Effect 3, especially compared to the first two. The vanguard still looks absolutely awesome and I'm so excited for my Shepard to use her charge ability again.

Also those Banshees (asari husks) are creepy as hell.

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MINOR SPOILERS BELOW!

Caution if you haven't played the first two!

Now a small story trailer showing off the dialogue wheel and separation of consequences. Not really a big thing but I always love seeing more footage and whoring myself out...despite not making any money for this :(

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Now some good stuff. One of the few but still main criticisms against Mass Effect 2 was the lack of customization for armor and weapons. BioWare has heard your opinions and taken them to heart for this. While the crappy inventory system from Mass Effect 1 is not back, they've come up with a middle ground that can be seen here.

Please let there be silencers (yes I know they're technically not silent and called suppressors). Even if they serve no purpose, they increase the badassery of nearly any weapon.

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I believe that the trailer for Female Shepard is coming later today. If true, then I'll be back later to post it. See you then.

Double Fine Kickstarter

Tim Schafer is a genius. The man and his company, Double Fine, has been behind some of the most unique games of the last decade. Psychonauts and Brutal Legend are both perfect examples of creativity and interesting ideas that unfortunately just did not make money.

Well now in conjunction with 2 Player Productions, Tim Schafer and Double Fine have set up a Kickstarter fund to raise money for a point-and-click adventure game. The goal? $400,000.

In less than nine hours, they reached the 400k goal. About five hours ago, they reached $750,000. They are currently just under $1 million, with about 26,000 backers. Just an incredible show of support and it inspired me to donate $15 as well. By donating a certain amount of money, you will get perks for when the game is made and released.

So go on and donate, not just for the perks, but to back a game from a man and company that have been behind some really great stuff in the past and love to make really unique experiences. Their games are unlike any others out there and deserve to be made.

Here is the link: Double Fine Kickstarter.

Mass Effect 3 Achievements and Live-Action Trailer (Extended)

Yeah, you can probably expect quite a bit of Mass Effect 3 coverage for the next few months. Just bear with it, I promise it's not going to be ALL I talk about.

Anyway, the achievement/trophy list got released today and really, they're pretty spoiler-free, with the exception of one that I wish I hadn't read, but even that isn't all that big. For the most part, they're so vague that it's hard to count them as spoilers.

But here's an interesting thing, as a series driven by a strong single-player narrative, many were curious about multiplayer achievements with the addition of co-op in this game. Well, the short answer is that there are multiplayer achievements.

The long answer is actually quite ingenious on BioWare's part. Any achievement that can be obtained in multiplayer has a separate requirement for single-player. So if you're not at all interested in the multiplayer, you can still get every achievement. For example, the "Tour of Duty" requires you to either complete all multiplayer maps OR complete all N7 sidemissions in single-player.

Well played BioWare. This reinforces BioWare's statements that multiplayer is just an addition that isn't necessary for the full experience and a complete story. It reinforces their statements that the main focus is still on the single-player experience. Well done.

Anyway, the list of achievements is here: Mass Effect 3 Achievements.

Also a live-action trailer was released a few days ago. Actually, scratch that. This was an already released trailer but it's expanded and I though I'd just post it so I could put more here than just a link to achievements.

WARNING: For those who haven't played the first two Mass Effect games, there's a definite possibility of a spoiler, ESPECIALLY near the beginning of the video. Skip if you haven't completed the first two.

Now that I got that out of the way, my hands are clean so don't blame me. Here you go.

Oklahoma Tax Bill, Twisted Metal Censorship, and Simpsons Arcade Game

A few news items today, two of which are annoying and one of which is awesome. So let's get into it.

Thank you Destructoid for the image.

In the Oklahoma House, a House Rep. by the name of William Fourkiller (seriously) has proposed a law that would impose a tax on games that are deemed violent. What constitutes a violent game? That's something that most bills don't specify at all, so this one gets a few points. Any game rated T or higher would have a tax imposed on it.

It still doesn't get a lot of points given that quite a few Teen games don't have much violence in them at all. You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of that dumb bill proposed by California Congressman Joe Baca, which would place cigarette-style health warning labels on their games telling us how they could do irreparable damage to our mental health and potentially turn us into psychos.

Look, I'll grant that a lot of time playing violent video games can lead to increased aggression and maybe a little desensitization. Studies have shown this. The keywords though are "A LITTLE". Killing someone in a game isn't even close to killing someone in real life. And I'm not just talking about learning how to shoot a gun. I'm talking about making yourself so dead inside that you have no clue that murdering someone in the real world is wrong. This is coming from someone who has played video games for 75% of his life.

These bills come from people who have ZERO understanding of video games or psychology, one of which I'm incredibly knowledgable of and the other I've taken classes on in high school and college. With last year's Schwarzenegger v. EMA being beaten, this bill will likely never be passed into law, and if it is, it will quickly be declared unconstitutional. It's still annoying as hell to see these people never shut the frack up when they've clearly been beaten already.
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Another bit of annoying news comes for the new Twisted Metal game. The game was supposed to be released in Europe on the same day as in North America, February 14th. It has been delayed to an unknown date, though David Jaffe has heard a rumor that it would be released on March 1st.

The reason it has been delayed? To censor it of course. Now from what I've heard, the censoring seems to be somewhat limited. But this is still a very irritating thing for me to see as I hate censorship of retail items with a passion. An even bigger kick to the balls is that they decided to announce this less than two weeks before the game was supposed to come out.

So to any European readers, sorry but it looks like you're going to get the game a little later than anticipated.
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On a positive note, today The Simpsons Arcade Game has been released on Xbox Live and will be released on PSN on the 7th (8th for Europe). The Simpsons Arcade Game is, without a doubt, one of the finest beat-em-ups and arcade titles in history. Hell, it's one of the best licensed games ever released and one of the few Simpsons games that had any business of being released.

From what I've read, this is a really solid port of the arcade version, so if you've got some Microsoft points and want to play a classic, put them in for this.

Kingdoms of Amalur Launch Trailer

Alright before I post the trailer, I want to go into the issue of the demo. The demo for Kingdoms of Amalur has gained infamy for being incredibly buggy. I personally did not encounter many bugs, and only one that made me worried about the state of the game and in that one dialogue just cut out.

Curt Schilling has heard the cries and come out with an explanation. He says, and I'm paraphrasing, that basically EA wanted a demo of the game. 38 Studios did not think that they had the time to make it while they were trying to polish the game up and fix the bugs people have been pointing out. In response EA gave the responsibility of the demo to a 3rd-party company (not sure which one).

Not only that, but this was three-month old build. So we have an old edition of the game and the demo was put together by a different studio. This would explain the clunkiness of the camera and combat as well as the numerous bugs and glitches in the build.

Anyway, with all that said, I'm still very excited for this game. Less than a week to go and the launch trailer has just been put out. Here it is.

Mass Effect 3 Cast and Aliens: Colonial Marines Trailer

The Reaper invasion and the galactic war to counter it will begin in a little over a month and BioWare is starting to step-up the marketing game.

If there's one thing that BioWare has always been at the top of the pile with, it's tremendous voice acting. The Mass Effect games are no exception to this as they have featured some of the finest voice acting ever recorded. Even Mark Meer (Male Shepard), who I consider the weakest link in the chain, still does an adequate job.

One thing I've been waiting for is the cast reveal trailer to see who's back and who's new. It finally came in today and I've got it below.

Before you listen to it though, I highly recommend that you also listen to the music in the background. Anyone who thought that a fabulous composer like Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) couldn't replace Jack Wall, hang your head in shame this instant.

The piece, in this trailer at least, is spectacular giving a moody and atmospheric quality that feels like sci-fi and Mass Effect both. It also gives a feeling of a larger scale and the enormous conflict that's coming. I cannot wait to hear the rest of it.

Well, Martin Sheen is definitely back. HOORAY! He and Jennifer Hale (FemShep) gave arguably the best performances in Mass Effect 2, though to be fair, it is Martin Sheen so we probably shouldn't have expected any less. The Illusive Man is still an incredibly mysterious character and an incredibly fascinating one. One of my biggest anticipations for this game is seeing what exactly he's up to here. And Sheen voices him with such incredible energy yet gives him that mysterious quality that makes him such an appealing, if immoral, character.

Martin Sheen returns as the fascinating and mysterious Illusive Man. What's he and Cerberus planning? That's one mystery I'm very excited to unravel.

Also returning are Seth Green as Joker, Tricia Helfer as EDI, and Keith David as Admiral Anderson. All have been excellent at their respective roles with Seth Green providing a good deal of humor but also showing that he can be a great dramatic voice actor as well with some truly emotional moments in Mass Effect 2. The awesome Keith David has served well as a sort of "father-figure" and mentor to Commander Shepard.

But of those three, the one that really interests me is Tricia Helfer as EDI. BioWare has worked the commentary on artificial intelligence into this series brilliantly and had it served as another part of it's well-delivered message of tolerance. With her unshackling near the end of Mass Effect 2, it will be very interesting to see how EDI changes in this one and how she becomes more "human".

Battlestar Galactica actress, Tricia Helfer, returns as EDI, the Normandy's artificial intelligence. A potentially huge wild card and a character with major storytelling potential.

Ali Hillis returns as my favorite character in the series, Liara T'Soni and after the superb character development she's gotten, I can't wait to see her in a larger role again. Without having played the demo, I know that Ashley Williams/Kaiden Alenko, Garrus Vakarian, Legion, Mordin, Admiral Hackett, etc. are all back as well as any other squad members.

Ali Hillis returns as Liara T'Soni, my favorite character in the franchise. She's been promised a bigger role in this game than in 2 which makes me very happy.

The two new VA's shown here are Freddie Prinze Jr. as James Vega and Jessica Chobot from IGN as Diana Allers. I'll say right now, that I really don't think highly FPJ's acting, BUT after watching an interview with him, it's clear that he's a fan of the series and shows a real enthusiasm that makes me excited as well. Also BioWare can get a strong performance out of just about anyone so I'm actually confident. He's also gone more in-depth talking about the character, talking about how he's basically what Shepard was before s/he got involved with the politics: naive and by-the-book, which makes me curious to see his character development.

Of course the controversial one on the internet has been the casting of Jessica Chobot as reporter Diana Allers. Let me say right now, that I'm not going to comment on the ethics of hiring a game journalist as a voice actress in your game, because my rambling is going on long enough as it is. But I give the same reasons that I gave about FPJ as to why I'm not worried about her acting-wise. She's a fan of the series and BioWare is universally excellent with voice-acting.

Lastly, still no sign of Nathan Fillion. That makes me a little disappointed. Hopefully he shows up somewhere.

The ending to what is, so far, one of the finest sci-fi epics imaginable will hit on March 6 and March 9 in Europe.

NOTE: Oh and real quick, I also found this piece earlier today, which apparently plays during the Reaper's arrival on Earth and when they utterly decimate all of its defenses, or when Shepard escapes from Earth. Once again, cannot wait to hear the rest of this score.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines is getting closer...at least I hope, I still haven't a goddamn release date for it and just five days ago it got pushed back again to Fall 2012 when it was supposed to Spring. For a game that's been in development hell for five years now, this is getting painful.

But at least they released a new trailer to make up for it. Come to think of it, they did this for Duke Nukem Forever as well. Don't turn into Duke Nukem Forever. Please? It's only a cinematic trailer, but at least it's something.

The trailer gives off the kind of atmosphere that I'm really hoping for in the final product. A nice camera movement downward through the different levels ending on the ugly mug of an Alien Queen. I still remember the first time I saw the Queen in Aliens and I hope they can give something close to that awesomeness for video games.

Delayed again, but I'm still hopeful for a strong final product.

Resident Evil 6 Reveal and Thoughts

As some of you may have heard, Resident Evil 6 has been officially announced. After months of false rumors, it's officially a reality. And Capcom gave us a trailer to go along with it. Here is that trailer along with my thoughts on it and other news about it below.

Now the trailer has shown us a few things: Leon still appears to be employed by the President and the living-dead zombies appear to be back. Chris Redfield will also be a playable character and still looks to be on steroids (what's he going to punch this time?). And I've also heard that there might be (or definitely will be) a third protagonist as well, with some even saying Steve Burnside from Code Veronica or Hunk.

It will be played from multiple perspectives with Leon fighting traditional zombies in America and Chris Redfield fighting the mutated aberrations from 4 and 5 in China.

As for the gameplay, I'm divided and I probably won't be able to make any kind of judgment until I see more. If they're going for an action-focus, I'm glad they're at least updating the controls and design, something that Resident Evil 5 DEFINITELY failed to do. 4 was a revolutionary game in terms of it's over-the-shoulder gameplay but five years later, it felt outdated with 5.

The key to making this game work will be more than that. In Resident Evil 4, you had to be very careful with ammo as the design was done to keep you from getting too much. Resident Evil 5 was pretty broken in that regard with you never feeling needy for ammo like in 4.

You can have an action game and have it be survival-horror at the same time. The idea that you can't have both is ridiculous. The key is in the design. Will this game be like Resident Evil 4 which forced you to keep an eye on your stock and ammunition and encourages some exploration as well, or will it be like Resident Evil 5 where you had more than enough to play through it a few times and could just blast your way through everything? The game needs to hit the design philosophy of 4 if it wants to succeed in the eyes of Resident Evil fans (well most of them, some will complain no matter what).

As for the game itself, a demo is scheduled to come out on September 5th. However, in the Xbox 360 version of Dragon's Dogma, you will find a code that will allow you to access the demo as early as July 3rd.

The game itself is expected to be released on November 20th for the Xbox 360 and PS3. There will be a PC version but that hasn't received a release date yet.



Stay tuned as I'll be posting a Mass Effect 3 video as well as an Aliens: Colonial Marines trailer later today.

Kingdoms of Amalur Demo

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has, unexpectedly, become one of my most anticipated games of 2012. Hell, it got #2 when I listed my most anticipated, beating out giants like StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Bioshock Infinite. Only Mass Effect 3 beat it out.

Well the demo came out a week ago and I got the privilege to play it (and be subjected to a crappy network that resulted in a SIX HOUR LONG DOWNLOAD) and I'll say right now that I enjoyed it, though it definitely feels like a game I'll need to play for a longer time to get the meat of it.

But what was there was, for the most part, quite promising. So let's jump into it now.

STORY

The demo (and by extension, the game) begins with a bit of backstory. An evil force, known as the Tuatha, are attempting to eradicate all mortals. If the Tuatha, obviously being immortal, are "killed" they're reborn a little later. This has made the war go very badly for the mortals. And it's been foretold by "Fateweavers" that no one is ever fated to stop the Tuatha. In Amalur, everyone is ruled completely by their fate, which means that this fate reading essentially says that mortals are screwed.

However, your character is killed before the game even begins, and placed in what's called "The Well of Souls" in an attempt to bring him/her back to life. The mortals are attempting to unlock immortality for both usage in the war and afterwards. The good news: it works on your character. The bad news: it gets destroyed and you're the only one who has ever been successfully brought back.

However, there's a bright side. Because of your character's resurrection, s/he is now immune to fate and has many possible destinies based on his/her choices rather than one destiny based on fate.

The story is written by the first our three big-name creators, R.A. Salvatore who wrote the well-done Dark Elf Trilogy for the Forgotten Realms. The story itself, from what I've seen so far, has some good ideas and interesting concepts that make me want to see more.

That said, there were some problems. Some of the dialogue just doesn't seem to match up and creates continuity errors. Obviously, they're small given how little of the game I've seen but still enough to make me scratch my head a bit. I hope it remains a minor issue that only happens a few times and in that case it's forgivable. I'm still curious to see where it goes.

GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN

The second name in our trinity is Ken Rolston, the man behind The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind which I really liked, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion which I really did NOT like. However, what I played of Amalur was really enjoyable, fast-paced and well-rounded.

The game is a combination of a stat-based RPG mixed with traditional hack-n-slash gameplay, sort of like Fable or Dragon Age II, though I had more fun with this than either of those. The combat was more frantic than Fable which was definitely a plus and there's no class system to restrict you like in Dragon Age II. In fact the game encourages you to switch between using traditional weapons and magic on the fly as a nice combo.

To further the hack-n-slash idea, each kind of weapon also has their own techniques that can be learned as you level up and you can also further your skill in the different traditional avenues. So if you want to be a powerful mage, put focus on magic abilities. Or you can go for a combination of all three (warrior, mage, thief). And that's not counting the different sub-categories of them such as the different magic types and weapon types to wield.

If there's one complaint that can be made against the gameplay in Kingdoms of Amalur, it's that it might lack an identity of it's own, at least in terms of gameplay. It plays like Fable, has the flexibility and versatility of The Elder Scrolls and Demon's Souls/Dark Souls, the dialogue wheel of Mass Effect mixed with an old-school dialogue scrolling list for questions about specific things, etc.

At the same time, one could also say that a strength it's the ability to combine established gameplay and design really well. It looks like they've done a nice job of that and I'm looking forward to see how far they went from what I saw.

If there was one thing that did not impress me here it was the design. The world felt WAY too linear and the game too railroaded. This was would be a big problem for THIS game in particular given that the story is about shaping your own destiny. I really hope the world becomes more open as the game goes on, otherwise this game will become a very bitter irony.

When all is said and done the gameplay of Kingdoms of Amalur was really fun even if none of it was particularly original. The linear and railroaded feel did not impress me and I'm hoping that this was just the beginning.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Closing off our trinity of names, we have Todd McFarlane doing the art. Some have criticized the art but I thought it was pretty good. I'm waiting to see what the rest of the art the game has before I make a big critique. Technically the graphics are lacking and definitely don't stand up to many other RPGs out there.

A big annoyance here was the fact that the main character does NOT talk. After Mass Effect, it just feels like something is missing when the main character doesn't talk. For the most part, the voice acting was good but that just didn't feel right.

CONCLUSION

Kingdoms of Amalur showed a few kinks in the armor, some of them may only appear to be kinks at this stage. However, the demo was fun and enjoyable time with solid gameplay and nice character progression. The story had interesting ideas and cool concepts and I'm still very excited to see where else the game goes.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning gets released on February 7th and I will definitely be picking up a copy.