10. Mario Party 8

Mario Party is just one of those titles that can do no wrong. If you are a fan of Nintendo and have a friendly get together from time to time, Mario Party just kind of works its way into your plans without predetermination. They have been around forever and it goes without saying that they will continue to come out as long as Nintendo is around. Keep on the look out for Mario Party 9 news!

09. Monster Hunter Tri

Monster Hunter is probably one of the best games of its type, which are a sophisticated fighting systems and partial RPG antics. Playing it on the PSP was one thing, but along with a visual upgrade, it is by far the most playable version of a Monster Hunter title to date now that it has been made exclusive to the Wii. It’s the hardcore combat and amazingly epic monsters that make it so great. Let’s not leave out the weapon and armor upgrades as they are what keep a lot of the game fresh and appealing.

08. Donkey Kong Country Returns

I absolutely love classic remakes, especially when they stay true to the roots. Although it has obvious updates and a new feel, there are a lot of aspects that keep it true to its original plat-former style. What makes this a memorable title for the Wii though is definitely its history. Whenever a classic is remade, you can only assume that there is going to be a lot of time put into it, and DKC Returns it’s just a great example of that. It’s a super solid title that every new and old Nintendo fan should own.

The Hype Machine

Battlefield is a house hold name these days for fps gamers around the globe, and now it’s back and better than ever. There is a certain amount of hype that comes with a new addition to any successful franchise, but honestly Battlefield 3 is really pushing the envelope in trying to create something truly masterful here. Is it really going to be able to rival the legendary Call of Duty franchise? Let’s have a look at what we can expect the new title from DICE to be like.

Frostbite 2 Engine

Battlefield 3 has taken quite a while to come about, but with good reason. Seeing as that BF2 was a PC based game, the next title in the franchise was being focused on making the move to the consoles. The reason why it has taken so long is because the development team wanted to wait until they had produced an engine that could stably utilize the next generation capability to the max. Using the Frostbite 2 engine, DICE is confident that Battlefield 3 will be the next big first person shooter to come out.

Technical King

Along with the graphic and technical capabilities that come from the Frostbite 2 engine, there has been a lot work put into animations and realism. It would appear that DICE really wanted to make you feel like you’re in the battle. With all realistic animations and the ability to haul wounded friendly’s to cover, BF3 is surly going to have a realistic feeling. It’s also worth mentioning that from previous titles released with the battlefield name, I have always found them to have far superior audio work. It never seems like war games get all the sounds right, but Battlefield has always impressed my ears.

Ninja Gaiden was probably in my top 3 favorite titles for the original Nintendo gaming console. Ryu Hayabusa and Team Ninja are back once more for a confirmed Ninja Gaiden 3. The project was officially announced at TGS 2010 (Tokyo Game Show) in a closed door event.  Ninja Gaiden 3 is said to take a deeper look into Ryu’s more human side, as the environment is set in a hellish realm. There has been no platform confirmations released.

Let us get started by saying that while the last titles were really good, there is always room for improvement. Something that I think a lot of us would like to see is a little more thought in the story. Fact of the matter is, they have been for the most part just confusing and a bit loose. Ninja Gaiden 3 should be able to build enough hype to be worth a good plot. So let’s hope that the writers really stepped up and will deliver something other than non-combat filler.

Some of the things that Team Ninja did get super right are the difficulty and depth in the fighting system. As previously stated, there is room for improvement. I think we would all like to see continued gore and awesome kills, but also they should take it even a step further. A cool addition could be anything from slow motion kills to maybe even adding button timed combos. Either way, expect some cool improvements in the fighting system as it has proven that Ninja Gaiden is an evolving game.

Also previously stated is a degree of difficulty presented in Ninja Gaiden 2, I think that’s fabulous.  It’s not very often these days you get a game where you actually feel a sense of accomplishment for being successful. As well as knowing that if you’re performing poorly, you just need to keep playing and get better little by little. Hopefully Team Ninja has kept this same high intensity arcade fighting. The absolute relentlessness of the game is what keeps us coming back for more.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 was pretty decent looking, but as more and more games come out over the course of years, you will always notice that the graphics get better and better. Let’s really hope that there is some kind of new visual aspect to look forward to. It would be nice to see Ryu slaughtering monsters with the same eye candy of say that of Killzone 3.

Some will argue that Ninja Gaiden 2 was not as great of a game as the first remake, but without a doubt will consider it a worthy addition to the newly renovated franchise. The stakes are set high as Ninja Gaiden 3 can potentially make or break the series for a while if they do or do not play their cards right. I think there is potential fan base loss coming if Team Ninja doesn’t innovate with a little depth for a story.  Let’s be honest though, most of us get our joy out of the other aspects of Ninja Gaiden.

Although nothing has officially been released on what to expect in the third addition, we can really get our hopes up for all kinds of cool weapons to use. Bows and swords are obligatory, but to be completely honest I’d like to see some real innovation, do something we aren’t expecting to really spice up the already action packed killing.

Taking the fight online is something that can really make Ninja Gaiden 3 a thing of beauty. It was attempted in the last title, but was kind of sub par. Let’s hope they take a little extra time to do something really cool with the multiplayer, possibly more than just co-operative play. Have a little ninja on ninja action possibly, or a battle with some of those very smart looking ladies. It’s a predominantly single player game, so no expansive multiplayer is really expected but it would be a nice addition.

So lets all get pumped up for the third addition to the series and hope that it really continues to advance and build stronger. As of now, it’s all left to the imagination but we are hoping that something comes about soon to give us an inside look at some of the expected updates and advancements in game play. We will be here to keep you up to date with any further news.

10.) And Yet It Moves – Self Developed

This will definitely be the least scary title on the list for most of you. Overall it’s just odd and has potential to be scary to some. The art style is like paper cut outs. I think for me it’s the real abstract feel of ‘A Capella’ sound effects and goofy game design that make it seem not right.  It has the tendencies to just have a weird feel to it and actually is a cool experience.

9.) Which – Mike Inel

Very cool visuals and interesting background music make Which one of the more scary games that you could be playing alone. There is some real spooky stuff going on, and you’re wondering in this puzzle style first person horror game. The audio is going to be personal preference for most of you, nothing really scary there. Walking around in this grey world is quite the odd experience though.

8.) FRACT – Richard E Flanagan

Just really strange is one of the best ways to describe FRACT. It has a very abstract and unusual visual style and to be honest, kind of gives me the heebie jeebies. This wont be the last time you hear about me talking about the audio on this list. The audio in FRACT is actually pretty scary, and adds a lot to the experience.

More Epic bosses? Hell yeah!

Speculation suggests both sides of Kratos returning. Some are thinking that there may be a new main character or maybe just playing as a different figure in the GoW story. It’s always a bit of a chance when doing something this extreme. It’s hard to know exactly what could come next for Kratos and should be interesting to see who the protagonist is in GoW 4.  There are some potential risks with continuing a franchise beyond its final addition. Some things that Santa Monica needs to make sure that they keep everything that made GoW as whole, successful. For example the story and graphics have always been great. If you remember what happened with Prince of Persia 4 they released a changed game that didn’t quite feel like its predecessors. GoW developers need not fix what isn’t broken; hopefully they aren’t too bored with it and looking to innovate in an unusual and drastic way.

“We’re going to be very careful about what we do. We’re the keepers of the franchise and we don’t want to see it ruined or polluted.” – John Hight

As far as what we can expect from the game engine and technical arrangements’, I don’t think there is anything worth losing sleep over. They have always been easy to play and very smooth. We can of course look forward to new features that I’m positive are going to be awesome. Every time a new GoW is released there is always something new to keep it way more fresh that the previous title. I have always been a huge fan of the fighting system and the button mashing cinematic finishing moves.

We want to do this in God of War 4

God of War 3 was quite possibly one of the more epic games for Playstation 3. I absolutely fell in love with it when I first played the e3 demo. I knew it was going to be the biggest and best GoW title to date and that there was no type of tarnishing to the franchise. Now that the fourth game is being talked about I can only image there will be bigger monsters, bigger finishing moves, and over all just a game that does justice to the franchise and developers names. I think it’s hard for Santa Monica to release a GoW title that will not be an instant hit.

For those of you who didn’t unlock the video “Fate of the Titan” by beating God of War 3 on Spartan mode, it basically shows a clip of the Titans skull sitting in a desert in what appears to be modern day with a helicopter flying around it. The narrator (Gai) concludes this video speaking “Soon as with all great myths, a new hero will emerge.” This has been speculated by many as a look into what may happen or could be happening in GoW 4. The video is from the first game which was made irrelevant in GoW 2.  So there is surly some mixed feelings on the intent of this video. None the less it’s hard not to entertain the idea that there is in fact something very cool in the works.

Kratos or some other new character?

Whatever is in store from Santa Monica Studios and the God of War franchise, you can with out a doubt assume that it’s going to be as beautifully disgusting, epic, and over all gnarly as its predecessors. There are high hopes and large standards for GoW and I think we can all agree that the franchise is in good hands. There obviously is no release date or anything like that, but it’s definitely not being forgotten. Hang tight Kratos fans.

Bulletstorm takes place in the future on a planet that appears to be over run with all different types of enemies. You play as one Grayson Hunt an elite mercenary in a squad most commonly referred to as Dead Echo. When you and your “co-mercenary” Ishi Sato reveal that they have been working for the wrong side the two of you essentially switch teams and are exiled to the far edges of the galaxy.

As far as game play mechanics go, it was running very smoothly and there is a twist on how to earn big points. Skill shots are what you want for earning big points; these can be racked up with many combinations of mele and weapons attacks. More or less, the player is rewarded for the more unnatural styles in which they wreak havoc. More importantly than the large collection of large scale guns, there are innovative features that you can have a bit of fun with.

The energy leash and yes it’s about as cool as it sounds, is a whip like energy weapon that Grayson uses to solve obstacles, toss and pull enemies, and most importantly make him a dominant force. Using the energy leash will automatically throw the game into a lack luster and over used bullet time effect, but none the less gets the job done and creates those big combos we were talking about. One more very cool thing I couldn’t get enough of whilst playing was using the energy leash to pull an enemy at me and when he gets close enough front kick him away while shooting up his entire body.  Many laughs were had, but it never really changed much so it can be assumed it will definitely wear off after a few hundred punts.

There is also a slam attack that can be utilized with the energy leash.  Basically Grayson will lift you up and bring you down just in time for a giant explosion of energy that suspends said enemy in the air for around 10 seconds. This is great for getting those desired skill shots. Over all I’d have to say that the energy leash is super fun to play around with and I think you’ll get your kicks with it, if you know what I mean.

What can we really expect from the Bulletstorm story?  Will it have replay value? These are pretty valid questions for any game that releases these days. From what has been speculated we can be expecting a very detailed and depth filled single player, with plenty of twists and action scenes. It has been noted that it is linear and has multiple paths although nothing really beats true omni directional free roaming worlds.

There is a leveling system that is based around the points you earn with the skill shots. You will be able to upgrade your character and unlock all kinds of weapons to make yourself the most lethal mercenary around. You can max out your character, which means that he is no longer able to get stronger and it is said that when you reach this level you will gain more skill shots with one shot kills.

Bulletstorm online has co-op for those of you who like to work together, which is called “Anarchy Mode. It also features competitive game modes for your online gaming needs. There other gaming mode announced is “Echo” where they remove all the story from some of the more action packed single player moments and have leader boards for global and friends to see who can rack up the most points at the end of the mission. This way you can focus mainly on killing without having to worry about the story distracting you.

There are expected to be a whole bunch of trophies out and players are rewarded for all types of malicious behavior in game. In fact the controversies are all ready running high at Fox News, giving Bulletstorm a hard time for its violence, sexual content, and foul language. Yes there will be violence, and foul language, but how else are you supposed to be realistically emerged into a completely fictitious and fantasy world if the characters don’t sell it to you properly.

Speaking on presentation alone, Bulletstorm looks and feels huge. The graphics are seriously mind blowing and you get a real sense that you’re in some future paradise. The audio is wonderful, and the voice over work is spot on. Its important to me to feel like I’m really in the action and voice acting can make or break a single player game. Fortunately for Bulletstorm, voice actor Steve Blum did a great job.

Over all Bulletstorm looks and feels pretty good, and I think that if you’re a fan of other types of futuristic shooters that involve great stories and crazy game play than this will fit snuggly into your collection. You can expect high intensity shootouts, overkills, all kinds of achievements, multiplayer co-op and versus, and all types of other features to keep the title pretty fresh. Give the demo a shot, and if it seems like the right thing to do, it probably is.

10. Postal Franchise

Banned in a handful of countries, Postal has taken the number ten spot for its relentless violence and vulgarity. With the ability to shamelessly hack celebrities and civilians alike, among other disturbing acts, caused quite a stir in the gaming world for really testing the boundaries of what is acceptable. Upon release, Postal 2 was the 2nd ever banned title in New Zealand, following Manhunt.

9. Germany bans WWII Nazi propaganda

Germany removes all swastikas and Hitler related imagery or similarities from games suggesting that it is unconstitutional.  In Germany computer games are legally classified as children’s toys, therefor all Nazi imagery will be removed from any title containing it. When the newest version on Wolfenstein was released it was instantly pulled recalled for swastikas alone.

8. Duke Nuk’em, nudity and murders.

Since the days of old Nukem has been stirring the pot with vulgar language, murdering helplessly bound females,  going to strip clubs, and over all destroying everything. In 1999 Duke Nukem 3D was banned in multiple countries, being considered pornographic and too violent.  There are censored versions out side of the United States. 3D Realms in general has played a huge role in pushing the envelope and creating controversy.

The graphics really are just standard for a racing game, and can be compared to that of Need for Speed. Bare in mind that they are not bad by any standards, they are just keeping up with the standard set by other games. I have absolutely zero complaints with the visual aspect of Blur; in fact I think that it’s quite beautiful at times. The particle system is great and it’s always a treat when a game has collisions with lots of debris flying about.

Blur allows you to take your own screen shots whenever you want.

One of the big problems I have with a lot of racing games, especially games that are developed with a half serious input are the physics. For some reasons it seems like developers put a lot of time into how they want the cars to handle and drive instead of how cars actually perform. Blur seems to have captured the physics with a little more than par. They are by no means perfect, which no game really is absolutely perfect, but it does have a realistic sense of weight and momentum. The turning and drifting is somewhat accurate and brakes are absolutely necessary as the courses get harder.

The single player mode is based around “lights” these are basically the points that you need to earn to advance in the story mode. It reminds me a little bit of Need for Speed: Underground with the whole blacklist set up. Players have to earn a drivers respect and then challenged the boss to earn their whip. There are a lot of different ways to acquire these lights and each stage has a different theme. Some of them are based on destroying other cars and others are based on appeasing the fans.

Looks great, feels great!

Blur has single handedly got me back into the car battle genre, for a long time it just has been really lame and going nowhere quick, seemingly waiting for the next Twisted Metal. I think that this is a great addition to the genre and should appease fans of all aspects of battle racing. As far as it goes for beating the titles currently in existence, I think Blur really does bring home the bacon.

There isn’t a lot to say bad about blur, it features so many good things that I really had to search and scrape the bottom of the barrel for issues. Technically I could not break this game which always frustrates me. I have this problem where if I can’t break a game, I personally feel defeated as a reviewer. Never the less, there aren’t any apparent glitches in the game play or design. One of the only issues I really have is that of minuscule proportions. There is no in-game music, neither developer made or licensed. It’s really not an issue and I didn’t realize it until several hours into the career mode.

Me sporting my signature black paint.

The single player is very challenging; most games these days are not. I found myself actually getting angry at my fake opponents as they bested me time and time again in very close races. I believe that a lot of games try to focus on the multiplayer aspect as being the challenge and make the single player a walk in the park. My next and final complaint about Blur is something that I have complained about since the original Mario Kart. I absolutely despise the weapon that anyone can get at any given time that destroys the leader, might I add that Blur has initially eliminated this. There always seems to be that one weapon that is so over powered that it can take a player from last to first in the final 30 seconds of the race and leave the original leader crying home to moma’.  With the ability to use almost all weapons as a defense and an offence, Blur has really created something to be observed by other developers. Congratulations Activision, that’s right Activision has started another potential title giant.

After messing about in the single player and getting to know the game, it was finally time to move on to the multiplayer. I was shocked! The community for Blur is outstanding. I was set into a group of players, men and women alike and was playing against people who where fun and good at the game. Everyone was laughing and having a great time, speaking on terms of multiplayer Blur and Mod Nation have very similar communities.

Learning the game can be a bit difficult, although it came very naturally to me being an expert gamer and all. When I let certain other friend’s play, whom are casual gamers had a hard time keeping up with the fast paced racing and clutch use of weapons. This is by no means a complaint; I actually indulge in games that take copious amounts of skill to master. If you are a casual gamer, do not expect to see great results in the online world, because players are constantly practicing.

Things can get a little out of hand… STRAP IN!

The use of real cars and city tracks is a very large bonus and remind me of old school racing titles. The originals come back to me in a shocking time traveler’s de-ja-vu. Racing in LA and NY, and everything in the middle is wonderfully exciting and I couldn’t wait to get to the next city. I’m so sick of playing games with fake cars, although I really have a special place for burnout inside my heart; I think that the use of real cars and cities is just so much more appealing.

Over all Blur is an outstanding game, created by an already prestigious developer and those who did not have a good time playing it must either not be into the genre, or need to go back and try it again, because it really is a decent game. If you are into car battle and racing than Blur is right up your alley. The least you could do is rent it and see if it fits the piece. It’s no Twisted Metal, but it will have to do for now.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Up close and real personal.

My first impressions of the game are heightened by my absolute infatuation with the song “New Noise” by Refused. It’s the perfect blend of epic build up and power driving chorus. The demo also features the song that insists that the “boom” is coming, and let me tell you that the intigration of music in the actual game play is absolutely one hundred and ten percent perfect. My knees got weak, and my butt started to sweat as somehow the timing for hits and kick-offs are perfect. Nothing gets a hardcore gamer with good taste in music in the zone like a synced out soundtrack.

Graphics are lacking in some areas, and really good in others. Ill look more into that when I can actually fully examine Backbreakers in its entirety. As far as I can tell it almost looks futuristic. The pads are not traditional and the stadiums are pretty crazy as well. You can choose night, day, and rain, but no snow. That’s possibly just a demo thing but who knows, developers have been known to pull a head scratcher or two from time to time.

Feel a little concussed? $#@!

The main goal of Backbreakers in my opinion was not to make a successful football game although they may have, but to really cut out all the horse malarkey and make a damn good physics engine. Its real good, and from what I can tell there aren’t many glitches in it. The contact is great and clipping is kept at a minimal, once again when I can actually get my hands on the full version here shortly Ill look into gratuitous amounts of detail on all the skimmed topics above.

It’s a whole new way to play football, all I can say is that if you’re a Madden fan don’t get ready to jump off the bandwagon. Just be ready to play football in a way that you could have never imagined before. It’s a weird set-up but the more you play the more fun it becomes. It’s absolutely worth a download so go get the demo and start crushing some backs.

Backbreaker physics video.

I will say that this title did give me a reason to break out my dusty Rock Band gear and jam out for a while to some of my favorite older songs by the legendary now pop group. I even included my family in the fashion of family night.  Lets just say that it wasn’t enough to get me back into Green Day though as I literally played all the best song in about 20 to 30 minutes and then really had no initiative to put the game back into my Play Station.

Yeah, this is as exciting as it gets.

As far as it goes for Rock Band titles, it was about as standard as any. If you are into the Beetles than go buy the Beetles Rock Band and so forth, might I add that the Beetles are much better than Green Day. There is nothing about this title that sets it apart from any other release, other than the fact that it’s just all Green Day music. I think that Rock Band and Guitar Hero both need a face lift. A bit of ingenuity needs to be had.

If you are contemplating buying this game, than you must be a die-hard fan of Green Day and Rock Band, because there is absolutely nothing about this that is new or interesting. You’re just playing as the band instead of doing covers. If they really want to make a game that is new and exciting than they need to change routes.

KNOW YOURE ENEMY!!! AHH EHHH!

If it where up to me, Id secretly be devising a new plan and story for Rock Band. You have to pick what kind of music you want to play, and design all your own band members. Now they can use real music or fake music, but instead of being a cover band, you would be perceived as a real band that writes their own music. The story would have all of the twists and turns that everyone is expecting, yet a happy ending for the children.

Getting back on the topic at hand, it’s terribly hard to write a review on a game that I knew was going to be bad-ish, and that is so similar to all the other titles that I’m probably not saying anything new.

Getting into how the game actually works, it was stressing me out before I even got to playing it. I must have spent about 20 minutes at the calibration screen because it refused to calibrate. I have programmed many Rock Band and Guitar Hero games and this is the first one that absolutely refused to work. So needless to say, by the time I had everything set up I was already in a bad mood.

Some classic Rock Band action seen here.

The game play was absolutely standard for Rock Band, nothing new there and the graphics where basic run of the mill for the franchise.  There isn’t much to be expected in change in these aspects, but they are honestly bringing the saying “if it aint broken, don’t fix it” to an entire new level.  My disgust has grown quite large by the end of this review and I think that it is safe to say that I will not be buying another Rock Band title until Rock Band 3 comes out. I just need something new, and it doesn’t even have to be drastic, it just has to be something, anything!

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.