Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves

Nathan Drake wakes up to find himself bleeding profusely in a train dangling off a cliff in the mountains of Nepal. With only seconds, which seem like a lifetime, to escape his impending doom Nathan quickly climbs upward towards the front tram. As he reaches what he thinks was sanctuary, it starts to fall slowly off the cliff. Holding the wound in his gut, he starts running towards the front and just before it completely disappears into the thick mist below, he manages to leap towards the cliff. Grabbing the edge, he pulls himself up and collapses with a sigh of relief.

 And that's just the tutorial.

In my personal opinion, the top 'dogs' at Naughty 'God's' (see what I did there? :P) really outdid themselves with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, I mean Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was already a huge success in itself but this was like adding chocolate syrup, strawberries and some premium grade icing onto a cake that sits on top of some Chocolate Indulgence and no I'm not exaggerating. I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon here and stating how awesome this game is just because everyone else is doing it, no no no, Uncharted 2 has definitely become a staple example of how games in this gen should be. From the graphics, to the gameplay, to the musical scores and right down to the voice acting, everything is done right. 

The graphics in game are jaw dropping, everything was built to detail and the inclusion of Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) gives objects and surroundings the ability to stand out which gives a nice little boost in the eye candy department. Lighting and shadows were also done brilliantly as can be seen when the player transitions from a sunlit area to some shade. 

Gameplay has been amped up quite a bit since the last game as NG has emphasized a lot on vertical opportunities where the player can effortlessly scale decaying buildings to lay waste to enemies below. This gives the player more choices in how they want to go about completing a chapter. In most of the chapters you'll find yourself with an AI driven partner in the form of some fresh faces and even some old friends, helping you complete puzzles or maneuver the rough terrain. Puzzles in Uncharted 2 are pretty much more straight forward then they were in Uncharted 1, that's not saying much seeing as how they were particularly easy back then too. 

Platforming has never been more fun with the compliments of smooth animations and the witty remarks made by Nate and the gang. The animations on the characters are top notch, it gives the player the feeling that Nate is really hurt. Also if he's carrying something, the weight of the object can be conveyed to the player through Nate's reactions/animations. I say platforming in Uncharted 2 is fun mainly because Nate goes wherever you want him to go, no "invisible wall" bullshit here. 

Lost Planet 2 Demo on 24th September

Finally, after months of waiting PS3 owners will get the chance to try out the Lost Planet 2 demo that was previously thought to be a 360 exclusive. However, the video interview from Playstation Blog proved otherwise where the demo was being played on the PS3 behind Chris Kramer and Chris Morell while the interview was going on.


The demo will be available to download from PSN on the 24th of September.


Source: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/09/lost-planet-2-co-op-demo-coming-to-psn-september-2/

Sony at TGS '09

Sony is heading to TGS '09 with a pretty heavy lineup in tow. These are some of the games reported to make an appearance and by the looks of it, that's one heft lineup. However, whether most of these games are playable or not is left to be untold.


I spy with my little eye LOST PLANET 2! Probably a PS3 demo finally?


• PS3
1. FIFA 10
2. Lost Planet 2
3. Shin Sangoku Musou MULTI RAID Special
4. Pro Evo 2010
5. Final Fantasy XIII
6. FRONT MISSION EVOLVED
7. Bayonetta
8. Gran Turismo 5
9. Uncharted 2
10. God of War III
11. Infamous
12. Heavy Rain
13. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time
14. Quantum Theory
15. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
16. Tekken 6
17. Dragon Ball Rising Blast
18. Assassin's Creed II


• PSP
19. Persona 3 Portable
20. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special
21. MGS: Peace Walker
22. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
23. Valkyria Chronicles 2
24. Phantasy Star Portable 3
25. Gran Turismo
26. Minna no Sukkiri
27. Minna no Tennis Portable
28. Jigen Kairou
29. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
30. SOCOM: US Navy Seals Portable
31. BLEACK Soul Carnival 2
32. MotorStorm Raging Ice
33. LittleBigPlanet
34. Undead Knights
35. God Eater


Via: Kotaku

Batman : Arkham Asylum

I can't remember the last time I've played a batman game. In fact, I think I never did. I was always too busy preoccupied swinging from building to building or clawing the guts out of some poor soul. Or maybe it was on a platform I didn't own. Yea that might be it. Anyway, having played the game the whole way through, I found it to be simply amazing. Now I'm not the type of gamer who goes back to collect stuff after finishing the game but every time you collect a hidden item be it a Riddler Trophy or Patient Interview, new information pertaining to the existence of Batman's foes becomes available. Character bios start to unlock along with the twisted stories and interviews that has taken place in Arkham Asylum.


I was really impressed with the graphics the game had to offer. I was also interested in the moody atmosphere it was giving off. For one, the buildings looked decrepit which gave the humble abode a rather grunged outlook which worked really well despite the fact that the size of Arkham Asylum was on par with Singapore. Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but I was impressed with the size of the place. I supposed they had to make it as big as it is if the whole game were to take place in only that area(I would have liked to drive up the side of Wayne Tower though)but hey, I'm not complaining.


The game starts out with Batman on his way to Arkham Asylum with Joker apprehended. As soon as they arrive, Batman feels uneasy as the Joker gave himself without a fight, almost willingly, which would obviously arouse suspicion in anyone. I mean come on, it's the Joker we're talking about. Moving on, Batman accompanies the guards who are transferring Joker to his cell. On the way, you meet a very familiar face and a set of teeth you wouldn't want to be within 10 feet of. The transfer goes smoothly until one of the guards decides that it isn't wise to allow Batman to go any further as it will "agitate the other inmates" at that moment Joker decides its time to stop his little charade and claims to have control of the entire asylum. Apparently, Joker's goons were transferred to Arkham Asylum when a fire "mysteriously" broke out in BlackGate Prison. Harley Quinn had also played apart in the Jokers takeover. The actual game starts out here, which is pretty linear.

"I have your scent Batman"

A nice little addition to the game are the riddles that the Riddler has left scattered all over Arkham Asylum. Most of the riddles, if not all of them have references to Batman's other adversaries. Some of them include the likes of Two-Face, The Penguin and Clayface, there was also a nice little cameo of Ras' Al Ghul where you can find his corpse in Dr. Young's office. However, If you re-visit the office later in the game, Ras Al Ghul's body bag has been unzipped and his body is missing, showing that he once again resurrected and escaped, such a shame, and you thought he was gone for good this time. I haven't even heard of The Great White and Black Mask right up till I discovered their bios in game and looked them up on the Internet. Solving each and every riddle gave me a sense of satisfaction after I realized I actually accomplished a collection challenge without any "online" help. Not to say they were easy, but because I was actually interested in solving them. There are other things to collect however, such as Patient Interview Recordings which reveal more of a patients personality and Riddler Trophies. There is also the case of The Spirit of Arkham which needs to be solved. It chronicles the stories of Amadeus Arkham up till his death and it's the world's greatest detective's job to find out what happened to him.




"Where would you find my home sweet home?"


The Scarecrow also makes an appearance and puts a nice little twist in gameplay which I found rather interesting. Croc's Lair was also a nice little thrill ride for me. The FreeFlow combat system was excellent and didn't get old no matter how many times I mashed that punch button. There was something about hearing the bones crunch every time the final blow was dealt. The gadgets were also fun to play around with, especially during parts where taking down goons stealthily was the only option if I didn't want to be filled with more holes than swiss cheese. Setting up the scene for a triple takedown while zip lining through the window at an unsuspecting henchmen right in the kisser with those killer boots is something you can only experience in this game. A number of ways could be used to dispatch unsuspecting foes. For example, throwing them of a ledge if its high enough just to knock them out, if not dangle them off the ledge by their ankles. Apparently Batman's code of "never to kill" applies here too but its good all the same.




"That has GOT to hurt"

Till next time, I leave you with a very disturbing interview tape with the Riddler, enjoy(if you can).

"Easily doctor. It's not my baby" - The Riddler

WET all over

Misleading as the title may seem, I am referring to Wetwork or wet work which is a euphemism for murder or assassination, alluding to hands literally wet with blood, so there. Just tried the demo, animations seem abit clunky at times but gameplay was fun accompanied with the old film style filter. Definitely worth looking into this one. Guess I'll get ready for another R1 mashing title.





Another racing title which was announced at E3 that I'm looking forward to ever since I was shown this trailer by my cousin is none other than Split Second,a racer fueled by Disney Studios. One would immediately think of a Disney character when it comes to Disney Studios, however they seem to be branching out with Pure as a stepping stone. This game seems to be coming along pretty well although there are elements which are still WIP when it was shown at E3. Nonetheless, almost everything seems to be done and it looks worthy of a nextgen console.




Just finished Shakugan no Shana (Y)
And the Shanatan extras were full of laughs.

Heroes of Newerth [The evolution of DotA?]

Heroes of Newerth, also known as HoN has recieved somewhat of a mixed response by the community. On one side, there are those who love the game and on the other, there are those who dont mind the game but seem to find it a complete ripoff. However, it seems that S2Games, the devs of HoN, have asked IceFrog wether it was alright to start this project a few years back. This was underwraps of course and Icey gave the go ahead. Well now it has finally emerged for the beta phase bringing with it vicious packs of zerglings ready to tear at the next innocent victim in possession of a beta key. I myself have managed to get a beta key without the means of violence :P


Personally, I feel that this is the evolution of DotA not in terms of gameplay but from a visual aspect. The graphics are similar to that of what you see in the Diablo 3 trailers. I say this because almost everything on the map was detailed carefully, from the water to the blight. From animations, sounds, models, everything was built from the ground up. Unfortunately I can't share any images or videos which I have in possession but there are some videos up on youtube which were released to the public.


I feel that HoN would be well recieved when it is done in the future. Even in it's beta phase the hype among the community seems to be increasing everyday. I leave you with a gameplay video.

ヴァンガードプリンセス

Saw this on lyn the other day and thought it looked pretty interesting. Basically because of all the moe lol.


That aside, for a such a small file size, one would think that this game would lack any form of long lasting enjoyment. However, under the small frame lies a beautifully crafted fighter by an ex Capcom employee. The sprite work looks amazing as the attention to detail was clearly on the developers mind when he was moulding the clay.


Currently playing with my PS3 Controller, accompanied by the fact that I had to resort to Joy2Key again. Clearly, for me being an avid console gamer I pretty much stuck with the controller and gave up the keyboard to friends who were playing 2P. Speaking of multiplayer, a program called Lunaport was recently released and is still in development for future improvements. Apparently they have not set up an easy to follow GUI yet but hey, it works.


Already favorited Saki :) (vid time)




There are also support characters which are surprisingly ALL loli types >.>
They seem to be a key component in chaining combos and yes there are infinites, so bijes rejoice ;/


If you're interested, follow this post > here <
I had to use Applocale which could be found on the Microsoft Website because I had problems with NTLEA.

BlazBlue follow up

Finally got my hands on the LE :)
Getting blisters on my left thumb, but hell its worth it. Combos are pretty easy to pull off however chaining a few together may seem difficult at first but once you get used to a specific characters style set, pulling off long chains would come naturally after awhile.


The only eye candy in this game for me would be Noel >:) Had fun with her story arcs, especially the parts with Litchi's panda <3>

The soundtrack was a combination of rock-metal and a hint of opera? Something along those lines but it sure did a good job tuning in to game. It was like a bonus rush everytime the music came on lol. I haven't heard the English voices yet because I prefer the Japenese once more ;> but I heard their not as bad as the usual dubs we have come to hate so much.


I STILL HAVENT GOT AN ASTRAL FINISH T_T
P.S: OMG THE OP SEQUENCE ROCKS! Oh I mentioned that already but OMG THE OP SEQUENCE ROCKS!

BlazBlue : Calamity Trigger

                                                                              BlazBlue : Calamity Trigger LE

I want it ._.


IGN : 9.4/10
GT : 9/10
GameSpot : US = 9.4/10 CS = 9.1/10


Read more about it here


Or watch the review below

inFamous

                                                                                              inFamous           

Just finished it and I must say I'm speechless with the ending. It was totally unexpected (in a good way) This was one game that was developed NOT to disappoint. Great storyline, good gameplay which didn't seem repetetive as most other 3P action games. Kept me going for approximately 9-10 hours of playtime.

But seriously, having to tap the R1 button to shoot ONE measly zap was a tad tiring. Other than that controls were good. I loved the way you have to guide you're Lightning Storm with the Sixaxis function. Yes, I'm a sucker for motion control :P
Anyway, didn't manage to finish it on the dreaded HARD mode cos' I'm not the patient type. And my index finger will be pretty much worn out if i'd set the difficulty higher. 

Played the good guy :) but sadly I'll have to play the bad guy to see the inFamous ending :(
Yea, they make you play it again (dirty marketing gimmick  D:< ) Meh anyway I'll probably give it a go after I finish some assignments (piling up!)

                                                                            Lightning Storm
                                                                  "Guide you're Lightning Storm with the Sixaxis function"

[PROTOTYPE]

Yes I'm back after a long time(not like anyone actually cares >.>)


I've decided to continue my blog for the heck it, focusing on tech gadgets and gaming be it titles for the PC or consoles.

Prototype

I've recently got my hands on a copy of Prototype (what kind of copy doesn't really matter now does it) for the PC and decided to write down a few of my thoughts on the game after playing it over the past two days.


Let me begin by saying, I wasn't really expecting much from this game and it actually surprised me that I was actually enjoying myself playing this game. The game starts out a few days ahead of the storyline, when the infection has spread to a point where it is incurable. This is where you have full access to all the power-ups which you can acquire later on. It basically acts as a quick tutorial to the basic controls. You could call it a quick preview if you will.


Story : 3/5

The game revolves around a man named Alex Mercer who has a classic case of amnesia. The storyline progresses normally after you complete a mission (not gonna spoil it for anyone). If you are the type of person to leave nothing unanswered, you can "consume" web of intrigue targets to learn more of the events leading up to the initial outbreak. The reason I used the word "consume" is because you can literally consume a person be it to regain lost health, learn more of the events leading up to the infection, heck you could do it for some plain bloody fun.Although I was not impressed with the fact that the game took place in Manhattan as I believe it is overused lately a la Splinter Cell, The Darkness, Legendary.
Despite this, it actually turned out pretty well. I haven't finished the game yet, so I'm not going to go into more detail in terms of the story. I'll update my review score when I finish the game. Let's move on to gameplay.

Ok, so I finished it a few days ago and  yes I stuck to my word. The twist at the end  was unexpected yes but the delivery was horrible. The cutscene was lost  between the earth and the sun. It was about 4-5 seconds of cutscene for the twist and I was  then immediately thrown into gameplay. Really dissapointing in terms of delivery, but somehow the story did manage to get across to me. It wasn't as original as some of the other titles out there but the gaming industry has grown so much that I guess it's harder to create new ideas now than it was 9-10 years ago. Still haven't gotten all the WoI targets yet though, but  I don't think their that important so I'm off to play GTA IV. 


Gameplay : 4/5

The gameplay in Prototype reminds me a bit of the Spiderman games back on the PS2. This is more towards traversing through the city. You have your basic jump as high as an african treefrog on steroids, a wallrun (diagonally and horizontally), latching on to buildings, and gliding! Yes, gliding. You can also purchase "Air Dash" which lets you cover ground much faster. If you're the type who likes to move fast. The sprint button will be your best friend. It is rare for me to see a sprint button built into a third person game but it actually turned out pretty well. The upgrades for sprinting will be noticeable every time you buy a new level. This is what I like to see when I purchase upgrades, some change in pace or animation.

You start out with none of the things you see in the quick tutorial at the beginning of the game. You'll have to upgrade them in the upgrade menu. The currency used is EP, which isn't hard to get. You get EP through various means such as completing a story mission, finishing an event or even killing random pedestrians. Moving on to the graphical side of the game.

                                       

   Groundspike  
Graphics : 3/5

The animations for Alex are top notch. Movement is fluid and there wasn't one instance in the game where I got stuck under a car or caught in a tree and had to wait for a fire truck to come get me down. The sprint will be held down throughout most of the game I suppose. As I said the animation is fluid and vaulting over cars to transferring from the streets to the side of the building feel smooth.


Jumping off high rise buildings or helicopters in any other game wouldn't really impact the ground you land on. However, as soon as you hit the floor, the ground shatters around you sending a shockwave which actually damages the environment.


On the down side, the buildings looked almost the same every where I went that I sometimes got lost, having to resort to pausing the game to look at the map. The mini-map wasn't useful at all. Even in the chase scene (not gonna say more than that) where I constantly fell behind because I was going right when what I was chasing was going left.
One thing I did like though was the fact that you could explore the entire city without having to bump into numerous invisible walls with the infamous  message popping up stating "Area Locked"


Audio : 2/5

The music in the game confused me at times. The tempo would suddenly escalate and I would find myself turning around only to see an empty street. And at pivotal moments where I was supposed to kill something the music seemed to die down. Even though the soundtrack was actually quite good on the ears, like I said, it was confusing at times.


Controls : 2/5

This is the type of game which is  meant to be played on a gamepad, and sadly, the gamepad support in this game was terrible.  A number of complaints were posted up on the  Activision forums stating their gamepads weren't being detected.  I found this disappointing as I was hoping to hook up my  sixaxis controller to  try it out (I did anyway, but to no avail). Anyway the default keys seemed a bit messy.


The movement keys are the basic W A S D. The sprint button is mapped to the Shift key. I found my left hands pinky finger feeling rather strange at times where I held down sprint for too long. Anyway, on  the plus side, the  Power Selection Wheel works  just like how you would control an iPod. Just hold down 'R' and move the mouse towards the preferred power/upgrade and you're set.  


The targeting system was not helpful to be honest. I would at times find myself not being able to target whats right in front of me. Switching targets was also a tedious task. I think I only managed to pull it off once or twice throughout the game. It supposedly tells you to "flick the targeting cursor" by holding tab and flicking the mouse. I even "flicked" my mouse off the table and I still wouldn't be able to switch targets.

Conclusion : 2.8/5
All in all this game surprised me in more ways than one but some of the surprises were not really desired. It's true that I actually have fun playing the game, but I would say rent it or borrow it off a friend OR you could always do that thing we Malaysians are famous for :) Either way, Prototype is worth playing but I wouldn't give up an organ for it.

Pictures courtesy of giantbomb.com