Our old protagonist Chris Redfield returns to us in this installment of one the the weirdest, creepiest and probably one of the scariest franchises of gaming history: Resident Evil 5. You’ll be playing as either Chris, or his new partner Sheva Alomar as they make their way through infected Africa in an attempt to escape; and later to reunite with an old friend, and an old enemy. Resident Evil 5 makes many improvements upon it’s predecessor, Resident Evil 4. Although these “improvements” seem to be considered mistakes, and even treason, by some of the hardest of hardcore fans of the series, Resident Evil 5 maintains fun gameplay and even a compelling storyline that will keep you interested in the series for many hours after you beat the game. So let’s sit back, relax and put on our zombie faces as we take a look at Resident Evil 5!

  When you first start up the game you’ll enter into the main title screen with “Resident EVIL 5″ blasting in your ears. This announcer kind of reminds me of a fighting game like Soul Calibur in a way. Despite it being relatively corny, it’s easy to ignore and move into the main menu screen. Resident Evil 5’s menus are easier to navigate than a lot of games I’ve played recently. I don’t understand what’s up with developers and making extremely complicated menus; but Capcom was nice enough to just make a simple list and go with it. Once you dig further into the menus, mostly under “New Game” obviously enough, you’ll immediately see that this game has a lot of replay value. A long list of unlockable action figures, bonuses, guns and outfits are all obtainable through the game by earning “points” by beating chapters. This was definitely important considering the games length of only 6 “acts” as I call them with a few chapters within each act.

  Despite the games length, Resident Evil 5 still maintains an interesting story of partnership (Come on, shippers!), horror, tyranny and tragedy. It may be confusing to most players, including myself, when you first play it if you haven’t been a huge fan of the game for a while. I get the feeling even if you ARE a huge fan of the game, you still probably won’t know what’s going on. If you pay attention to the dialogue and the information given in the game (Or if you just read up on the story on Wikipedia), you’ll begin to understand and then begin to form a bond with the characters. Chris is brawny, idealistic and sharp witted. Sheva is brave, open and surprisingly tough for her size. As you’ll be playing with these two literally through all of the game, I’d hope there would be something you could find to like about them. Personally, I think they made a good team and kept the story rolling nicely. Chris’ sort of “superhero” persona makes him a little corny at times; but so is every major protagonist. Except Batman. Batman is always cold as ice.

  Resident Evil 5 plays mostly like the older games. You can’t run and shoot in unison, which significantly slows down movement and combat scenarios. This is a hit and miss topic with many people, so it really just depends on the player. Personally, I thought it added a nice intense feel to the game. It made every fight feel real and almost scary in a sense. All of the weapons in the game have a much heavier feel than in a first person shooter like Call of Duty of F.E.A.R. because everything is slowed down. Not only are they heavier; but they feel much more realistic. Any weapons fanatic would have a blast unlocking, buying and upgrading all of the guns in the game. And to all of you gamerscore lovers out there, there are plenty of achievements to keep you busy in this title. None of them are ridiculously hard to obtain like in some games; but they are a challenge. If you’ve been a fan of Resident Evil for a long time, or if you like a game with plenty of guns, or if you just like killing zombies, then you shouldn’t have any problems with Resident Evil 5. The learning curve for FPS players can be a little steep; but once you get used to it I’m sure you’d love it.

  I’ll admit, I was worried about the graphics of Resident Evil 5. I’ll also admit that I was extremely wrong in doing so. I was worried because the first time I played the demo, the graphics looked almost muddy. It was hard to tell one thing from another in the environment and everything just looked boring. …Then I got an HDTV. Resident Evil 5 is absolutely gorgeous in 1080p. You can see every detail you could want in the environment and everything is crisp and clear. Some areas can be a little dark for my liking; but that’s why there’s a brightness setting in the menu! The cutscenes look fantastic and it seems to maintain an excellent framerate even during larger fights with bosses. My only real complaint is that even though every person in the game looks real, the skin textures in the game look a little clay-like. It’s a small thing though and it definitely does not hurt the game itself at all.

  Voice acting in a horror game is extremely important. You need to feel like your surrounded by undead, ready to eat your brain and claim your body. Resident Evil 5 does just that! All of the voice actors did a fantastic job. Every character sounds like they’re either scared for their lives or ready to tear you to pieces without even thinking about it. The monsters sound disgusting and the villains sound…Creepy. The music throughout the game comes and goes at the appropriate time, sometimes fading in and out to match your situation. There isn’t much to the music, not like in a game like Halo, but you’ll know when it’s there. I was pleasantly surprised when I was walking through the urban environments of Kijuju. All of the foot steps, crashes and gunshots sound real and absolutely amazing through 5.1 surround sound.

  Despite a relatively short completion time of only about five or six hours, a few Nintendo-esque puzzles throughout the game and the fact that it’s not nearly as scary to me as the older games, Resident Evil 5 definitely holds it’s own against it’s predecessors. With a great cast, beautiful graphics, sharp controls and an enticing storyline that makes you beg to know more, the latest hit title from Capcom is definitely worth the money. Running at only thirty or forty bucks from Gamestop, I would recommend going and getting as soon as possible. If zombie games aren’t your thing, at least give it a rent. Don’t pass this one up guys! I mean, come on, it’s Chris Redfield instead of that Leon guy that everyone hates. …Or am I the only one that hates him?

  Is it an RPG? Is it a first-person-shooter? It’s Borderlands! Many, many, many RPG and first person shooter fans around the country were heavily awaiting this release. When Gearbox finally let hit the shelves here in the U.S. on October 20′th, fans went crazy to get a copy. After selling out at most retailers within the first week, there’s no need to say that it’s been a huge success. This is, in my opinion, one of the few games of the last few years that deserve this kind of success, too.

  After what seemed like a dry spell of boring, predictable and redundant first person shooter releases, Borderlands is a beautiful, refreshing look on things. Seeming like the older, more hardcore cousin of Fallout 3, Borderlands boasts of a huge, colorful world to explore with many “interesting” NPC’s to interact with, lots of ugly enemies to kill and an asinine amount of weapons to choose from. This was enough for me to go ahead and work on getting a copy.

  Once you begin the game, it immediately begins to show you it’s sense of humor. After the first (and hilarious) cutscene, you’ll be asked to choose from one of four characters, or classes if you will, to play as. Brick the tank, Mordecai the hunter, Roland the soldier (medic), or Lilith, the siren. Each of these characters have particular advantages in the world over the other; but in all honesty, you’ll be able to play however you want no matter who you choose. The only real difference will be the skill set.

  All of the characters in Borderlands have somewhat of a backstory, but the game itself is pretty lacking in story. I expected this ever since I saw the first screenshots. I expected ridiculous amounts of violence and a lot of humor. Did it deliver? Oh yes. Some people have been pretty disappointed by the almost complete lack of a true story, and I guess that’s an understandable perspective. What many players must remember is that Borderlands isn’t just an RPG. The RPG elements within the game are pretty thin compared to a game such as Final Fantasy or the Elder Scrolls series.

  Delving into the storyline is not what Borderlands is about. It’s about getting your class, tweaking it to your liking, and blowing some uglies back into the hole they came from. Beautiful, isn’t it? With that kind of game comes a need for tight controls, however. Fortunately for us nitpicky shooters, Borderlands continues to deliver in controls. Everything is tight, responsive and quick, just as anyone could have asked for. My only complaint is the driving. Most followers expected something that lived up to the vehicles in Halo 3; but the driving in Borderlands is kind of awkward for the most part.

  I have, however, heard even more complaints about the artificial intelligence. That being said, I have a few myself. Most of the enemies are smart enough, and they all put up a good fight. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the bosses. If you’re an experienced shooter fan and you’re expecting a huge challenge from the bosses in the game like the infamous “Rakk Hive”, then you will in fact be disappointed. It almost reminds me of Fable II. Once you hit a certain level, everything pretty much becomes a piece of cake. It’s pretty easy to hit the 30-37 level by the end of your first playthrough, too.

  There are no difficulty settings in Borderlands; but after you beat the game there IS a feature called “New Game Plus”. What this allows is for you to be able to go through the single player campaign, starting from the beginning, but with your previous character with all of your experience and loot. That’s pretty sweet. It would be more difficult, but I get the feeling that it would mirror the first playthrough by the end of it.

  None of this would matter without great graphics and sound, would it? Thankfully, yet again, Borderlands doesn’t disappoint. Everything on the world of Pandora is cel-shaded. It gives it an almost comic-book feeling as you play through huge fights and explore around the world. Unlike many cel-shaded games, all of the colors in the world have a particular “pop” to them thanks to the slight border around everything you see. Every character, weapon, rock and piece of garbage stands out and has a place thanks to this.

  The developers must have driven themselves crazy on the sound. Every gun has an individual, satisfying sound when you fire it, making each weapon that much more fun to use. All of the people on the planet sound exactly how you would imagine them too. Back-wood, inbred hill-billys. Borderlands doesn’t have the same monumental, prestigious music that you would hear in something like Call of Duty or Halo; but that’s simply because it’s not meant to. It’s supposed to look, sound, and feel like a run-down piece of trash world; and it does.

  If you want a game that packs a huge punch, a world with lovable, funny characters, while still maintaining the heart of an RPG, then this game is for you. If you want a deep, emotional role playing game filled with mysterious characters, puzzling quests and an epic storyline, then this game isn’t for you. …Why would you even look into it if that’s what you were looking for? Seriously, look at the cover!

  Oh, and this is definitely a game that you will want to play with friends. It’s fun by yourself; but as long as it’s with friends that you can work with, Borderlands becomes infinitely more fun.

Release Date: September 22, 2009
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Publisher(s): Microsoft Game Studios
Developer(s): Bungie
Genre(s): First-Person-Shooter

  ”Prepare to drop.” What an awesome slogan, eh? This game most certainly deserved it. It was, by far, my most enjoyed Halo single player experience. I honestly never thought I would like a Halo game more than I liked Halo 2, but here it is. There’s not a whole lot to say that’s different between it and Halo 3; but the few, really huge differences are what make it amazing.

  You start off as the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST), “The Rookie”. After being assigned a mission in orbit, you are sent down to earth. You end up crash landing somewhere in the city New Mombasa where the other ODST’s were assigned. Unfortunately, the landing knocked you out for a large enough amount of time for the other members to move ahead with their assignments and effectively leave you stranded. What a bummer, huh?

  That’s where the story differences really hit me. To find your lost squad mates, you must move through the city in search of clues and hints to give you an indication of what happened. This “Rookie” must be Batman in an ODST uniform because the amount of information he gains from one bent sniper rifle is amazing! After finding each hint and watching a little cutscene of you checking it out, the game puts you into the other ODST’s shoes. You have to run through the mission that lead them up to the point of leaving behind the evidence. This makes the story FAR more interesting to me than the original Halo’s, and gives the player a relationship with each solider. (My personal favorite being Dutch. “I’m paraphrasing, ya heathen!”)

  Weapons doing less damage, a lack of energy shields, smaller jumps are some of the things that change the actual gameplay from a regular Halo game. …Those, and an orange HUD. I personally love the HUD, but the orange color reminds me of F.E.A.R 2, and I never really liked the color very much. Weapons on Halo 3: ODST do a lot less damage. This makes sense for the melee weapons, but even the sniper rifle suffers from it! That doesn’t make much sense to me, honestly. Why would your firearm do less damage just because you weren’t as strong as a Spartan? It would make me pretty angry if the military had standard issue weapons and then it had “Insanely strong but still look the same” Spartan grade weapons. That being said, it’s not that big of a problem. You also get a really cool silenced SMG that you can SNIPE with, and the amazing pistol from Halo: Combat Evolved makes an appearance, also with a 2x scope and a silencer.

  It seems as though along with the weapons being weaker, Bungie also dumbed down the enemies for us too. Brutes are a pain to kill, as always, but enemies like hunters are almost a breeze to take out compared to what they once were. I can understand why Bungie would do this, of course, and I certainly can’t complain about it. It’s just one of those things that doesn’t really make sense to me. If you’re so weak as to actually turn down the weapon strength, why are the enemies weaker too?

  Your once never-ending energy shields have been replaced by “stamina”. Once your stamina runs out, it goes to a CE styled health system where your health actually drops and then you must go find a health pack or a health station. I thought this was pretty creative, and for a Halo game, quite realistic. I’ve never had this problem; but I could imagine it can be pretty frustrating to be in the middle of a firefight, lost health, then have to sprint to a health station only to be shot in the back once you’re almost there by some coward grunt. …Just sayin’.

  Online Deathmatch modes are…Well, exactly the same! ODST didn’t come with any new armor for Halo 3, new gametypes or a even a new weapon or two. It did, however, come with a second disc that had the original Halo 3’s online multiplayer on it, along with every map pack released. That sounds like a fair enough deal to me. I’m just not a huge fan of Halo 3’s online modes compared to games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

  ODST DID come with a new online game though. It’s exclusive to the ODST disc, and is absolutely the coolest multiplayer gametype I’ve seen from Halo. It’s called “Firefight”. What it is, is a never ending death match between you, your friends, and the Covenant. It has unlimited waves, it activates skulls as you progress, and you get to play as any of the ODST’s that you’ve unlocked in the single player. (You can also play as Sergeant Johnson if you pre-ordered the game. Which I think is…pretty sweet.) There’s not a whole lot to say about it beyond that. Those of you that played Horde mode in Gears of War 2 will recognize this kind of gameplay. If you liked Horde mode, you’ll like this. If you hated Horde mode…Well, you’re out of luck I guess because it’s pretty much the same thing. Sorry guys. Oh, and it IS designed with multiplayer in mind. I would most definitely not recommend going in by yourself and trying to fight off wave after wave of Covenant forces unless you feel like getting very frustrated very quickly.

  Graphics, voice acting, and the overall feel of the game are all very, very nice. Bungie, yet again, did a great job on making a beautiful game. Scenery is dark, but gorgeous and fun to explore at the same time. You do have to be careful though, it is easy to get lost in the city if you don’t use your map often. Some of the AI’s faces in the cutscenes aren’t rendered very well, and there are some buggy movements here and there; but none of it takes away from the experience at all. In my opinion, Halo 3 was a better looking game. It did, however, take almost five years to release.

  All of the voices in the game are crisp, clear, and there is enough funny dialogue to keep you entertained even if you’re bored with the missions. I’ve never liked the sounds and voices of the brutes, but they are done well nonetheless. Marines, as always, have funny dialogue and some hilarious easter eggs; and the ODST’s all have great senses of humor that will attract different people to each one. It’s rare that I see games with as great of voice acting as the Halo series. As critical as I may be of the storyline itself, the characters are always voiced well and have great personality. That’s an impressive feat considering the amount of enemies, marines, and other NPCs in the game.

  Is this “expansion pack” so to speak worth sixty dollars? That’s a pretty big maybe. I wouldn’t pay that much for it myself simply because the campaign is so short. I had beaten it from beginning to end in under 7 hours, and also grabbed a lot of achievements from it while I was at it. It would be worth it if you’re a die-hard Halo fan, even if you haven’t seen that much about this title because you won’t be disappointed, I promise. It’s a fun game with a well told story with a number of lovable, relatable characters that will draw you into the game and keep you going until the end. Even if that end is only six hours away.

Single Player Campaign: 7.8/10
Multiplayer (Firefight): 8/10
Graphics: 9/10
Voice Acting: 9.5/10
Overall Value: 8.5/10

Title: Wolfenstein 2009
Release Date: Release Date: August 18, 2009 (Memphis, TN)
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Publisher(s):Activision
Developer(s): Raven Software
id Software
Pi Studios
Endrant Studios
Genre(s): First-Person-Shooter

  It is a sad thing when the first thing I have to say in my first sentence about a game that I was waiting for for so long is that I am disappointed. I’m not horrendously disappointed, just…Uncomfortable with the new game. It carries in a few classic things from the classic, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but not enough things.

  I’ll talk about the single player campaign first because that was the reason I bought the game. Let’s make it simple…

  What I expected:

1: Solid gameplay.
2: Interesting, dark, occult Nazi Germany storyline.
3: At least a few scary, cryptic levels.

  What I got:

1: Decent gameplay.
2: Somewhat interesting, more or less bland, generic storyline.
3: A couple of dark lighted levels, but nothing scary at all. Mostly bright levels.

  Gameplay was the only thing that didn’t really disappoint me here. It was a reactive, and fun to play first person shooter. I wasn’t too big on the upgrades system at first; but I got used to it over time and found them to be pretty cool. Only catch is that once you buy them and beat the game, they’re gone. No backwards playing allowed, kiddies!

  The AI was, of course, smart and tactical. It responded well to the environment and my shooting it in the face. It wasn’t the smartest of all AI, and sometimes it was kind of simple and easy to kill. That was only on a couple of occasions where it was REALLY easy though. Nazis are set to random spawn in the city streets, which can be fun if you just feel like killing some Nazi AI, but also frustrating if you end up going back and forth to places in the city when you run into the three scribes on accident at one time over and over.

  It is fun to shoot them though! They react to how and where you shot them very well, just like in F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin. (You should pick that up while you’re out getting this game. It’s a great shooter, review here: http://codeveggie.zn3twork.com/?p=63) They scream and roll around if they’re on fire, and hop on one leg if you shoot them in the thigh, etc. It’s mostly fun to shoot them in the neck though…

  Veil was a very, very odd addition to the game for me. I honestly didn’t enjoy it very much, and I really don’t have much to say about it. It was kind of cool to slow down time and all, but it wasn’t utilized in a good way. It just made the fights annoying and seemed like it was kind of ripping off F.E.A.R with the whole slowing down time thing.

  Gun play in the game was tight, and well aimed. I only had a few complaints. There was a lack of the FG42 from RTCW, which I loved, and the guns were a lot weaker in my opinion than what they should have been without upgrades. I think it’s a cool upgrade system and all; but I don’t like being forced to use it all the time with every gun. Granted, if I were a masochist, it is indeed possible to beat the game without any upgrades. …It wouldn’t be any fun though…

  RTCW had a cool story. I mean come on. Nazi Zombies (The first instance of them, from what I recall.), a darker, more twisted occult version of World War II, and a cool main hero that can kill just about anything. It wasn’t the deepest of storylines, but it was cool! This game was supposed to be a continuation of that, and I suppose that’s what it turned out to be, but…Man, it was just disappointing to me. It wasn’t nearly as mysterious and dark, or even as interesting. It just felt generic to me, like it was kind of rushed.

  The level designs are on about the same page, in my opinion. They’re beautiful, no doubt about that, but they just aren’t Wolfenstein to me. They feel more like a dark Call of Duty. (Especially with that little gold star on the annoying location indicator on your HUB that looks straight out of CoD 2 or something.)

  Since the multiplayer was designed by a different studio (from what I know), I’m going to go ahead and say that the graphics in the single player campaign are gorgeous. I mean, some textures are a little plain, but they are beautiful. Up to par to every other game of the genre in my opinion.

  Wolfenstein’s multiplayer is…Incomplete, from what I can tell. It looks just awful to me. It’s FUN, but the only reason it’s fun is because it’s funny and impossible to take it seriously. The weapons are about the same as the single player except the inclusion of a pistol, and you can only carry two. Upgrades are still there…They are also still just as necessary to enjoy the game. It’s not hard to obtain them, but God is it annoying it. Physics are just terrible, and there is also a lot of lag. It’s one of those games where it becomes hard to tell what you’re doing if you’re not paying close attention or if you’re not on a very high quality TV set. It was just almost entirely boring to me and I went back to playing Modern Warfare within an hour of it.

  With all due respect, this game is strictly okay. It’s a great single player experience for people that haven’t played RTCW, and even then it’s still fun. What I would suggest is allowing backwards playing though because that can make any game just that much more fun. I don’t see why they didn’t, but that’s just me. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the multiplayer. If you want a good multiplayer game, don’t pay sixty dollars for this. Go pay around forty and buy something like Modern Warfare.

Single Player Campaign: 8/10
Multiplayer: 5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Voice Aciting: 9.5/10
Overall Value: 8/10

  All right! So this will be my first post in a good while. My apologies, I’ve just been quite busy. Finishing school, re-painting, re-modeling, and re-decorating the house. ….I’ve also had too much fun playing with the things I want to review rather than review them.

  This time, however, I’ll be reviewing something a little different. This game is called Evony. It’s a massively-multiplayer-browser-based-real-time-city-building-war game. …That’s a mouth full, isn’t it? It’s based in a fictional middle-aged world with a couple of different continents to choose from and a number of servers to play on. As of now, there are well over 500,000 people playing and even more coming in and trying it.

  To most people the game itself is something of much confusion. You must build, maintain, and protect your city, or cities (You may have up to ten per account depending on your rank). Maintenance of your city is done through a simple, but very interesting, materials system. Building your city, troops, and keeping your people happy are all centered around food, iron, lumber, and stone count. Materials increase every hour, on the hour, in real time even when you’re not playing. Troops require a certain amount of food every hour to survive, and if your food count goes to low, people begin to leave your city.

  Depending on the amount of people in your city determines your rank in the game, or “prestige”. Your prestige determines your rank on the leader-boards. Prestige, like gamerscore in the Xbox-Live system, is a competitive and fun way to keep up with your social gaming status. Like I mentioned earlier though, if your food count drops, you lose people. If you lose people, your prestige drops. I think it is a very fair thing to do.

  You can also increase the amount of everything you gain, and the strength of your city by leveling up your buildings, town halls, and the walls around your city. Research is another way to increase everything. All of these things can go up to level nine. After level nine, however, it requires an item called a “Michelangelo’s Script” to level things, except research which only goes to ten, to ten and above.

  Like any other game, Evony has special items that can increase the production rate of materials or strengthen your troops. Most of which only last for twenty-four hours. As one would expect, you have to pay for these items: or win them in the “Wheel of Fortune”. Sadly, it rarely gives anything of use. Personally I refer to it as the “Wheel of Perpetual Disappointment”. Many people, who take the game far too seriously, are willing to spend a lot of money on these items, and of course, use them to their advantage.

  To protect yourself from these inevitable invasions, you are permitted to join an alliance in Evony. There is a large number of alliances, some powerful, some weak. Whatever the terms, joining one is usually the best thing to do after hitting around ten thousand prestige to protect yourself. It makes the game much more enjoyable, too. Instead of sitting there, watching your buildings build, it becomes more like a chatroom with things to do while you talk to friends.

  Other than pummeling each other in deathmatches for the sake of your city, you can always attack NPC cities or valleys. Valleys are small areas of land on the map that are conquerable after only one victory, and increase the production of your materials by a nice little percentage depending on the level. Beware, you get to keep them as long as you like; but other players can take them from you. That being said, it’s not a good idea to leave your troops in the valleys, because they require twice as much food every hour. Valleys are expendable, so take advantage of them.

  All of this fighting, scouting, and conquering is done through a simple message system. Every time you get attacked, scouted, or plundered, it sends you a message instantly. It sounds boring, but it does allow you to decide how to counteract in a tactical manner.

  Evony is free to play and a great thing to run in the background. It’s very addictive, because it’s just so interesting to see your city rise above those around it and conquer the people who attack you. Like any other video game, it does have it’s downsides.

  It most definitely isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like slow-paced games and have nothing else to do while playing this, then you won’t enjoy it very much. Especially if you can’t join an alliance, you’re also particularly weak for a good amount of time until your city gets stronger. Even then, if you’re not in an alliance, most people (Myself included…) will probably still attack you without worrying about it.

  Evony’s servers are also not of the highest quality. They tend to lag out a lot, and can be quite slow at times. This can get extremely frustrating when you’re in a rush to do something, like retaliate to an attack before another wave strikes.

  Building times are also, of course, a subject of much argument. Long waits make it much more realistic, and more fair for the people who are higher level. It’s reasonable that higher level things take much longer than lower level because if that wasn’t in effect the lower level players would be completely drowned out. However, the building times can make the game boring to a lot of people, and even abysmal to others. It really boils down to a simple matter of opinion and what you think is fair.

  If you can look past the building times, somewhat laggy servers, regular system maintenance, and the jerks who take advantage of new players and try to join an alliance as soon as possible, like to watch your city get stronger and stronger, and like a multiplayer game with a huge and friendly community, Evony is definitely a game you’d at least want to check out.

  I mean come on, it’s free!

Overall Rating: 8.6/10

Title: Call of Duty: World at War
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Platform(s): Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PC, Xbox 360
Publisher(s): Activision
Developer(s): Treyarch, Certain Affinity
Genre: First Person Shooter

  Call of Duty: World at war is the latest installment of the well known first person shooter video game series. It runs on the same engine as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and brings back many of the game play features that made it’s predecessor great. Featuring both single player and multiplayer modes (including a new Nazi Zombies mini game) to enjoy, World at War was expected to be the next best release for war video game fans.

  Unfortunately for many, including myself, the game was a huge disappointment. Graphical glitches, weapon issues, multiplayer lag, and a ludicrous spawn system are merely a few of the problems plaguing this release. Most people blame Treyarch for taking over where Infinity Ward left off. I have to say that I agree with many of the complaints people have brought forward about that point.

  Once again, the single player campaign throws you into the World War II battlefields. You play a number of soldiers going through certain parts of the war, and completing a number of objects while tearing through waves of Nazis. Sounds familiar, right? It’s campaign would have been much better if it would have given gamers something new to expect rather than just another WWII simulation. That was cool back in the day, but now most people are looking for something a little more refreshing.

  Throughout the campaign, you learn to use many essential parts of the gaming engine including the new flamethrowers and tanks that were hugely advertised in the teasers. Artificial intelligence in World at War is minimal and the only real challenge of the single player is the sheer numbers of enemies. You can shoot down a couple of Japanese infantry without a problem, but shooting down a small army all within one small area is effectively more difficult. Unfortunately it also makes it much more annoying. Running through mission after mission is fairly simple and extremely linear. Offering little to no challenge for experienced gamers, the campaign is a huge disappointment.

  Graphics and sound in World at War are, however, impressive. Voice acting throughout the campaign and even the multiplayer is terrific. Emotions from all of the characters sound real and heartfelt, and the screams of pain are quite realistic too. Video games are meaningless now days if the world around you doesn’t look good, though. Thankfully, Call of Duty: World at War was kind enough to give us a beautiful, well crafted world in which to fight off armies of Nazis. Character movement from the A.I., as simple as they may be, is quite realistic and can surprise you if you’re not watching the game play around you.

  Achievements throughout the game are actually pretty difficult to obtain. They’re mostly single player based and you can only get a majority of them during a solo campaign. Multiplayer achievements are few and far between and I have yet to actually achieve one despite the number of challenges I’ve unlocked. Personally, I think it would be more fair to earn achievements as you unlock challenges; but they must have decided that the challenges themselves were enough.

  In most people’s opinions, mine included, the multiplayer is the best part of the game. It is also the buggiest, though. Matchmaking is as simple and quick as that of the Halo series, and the party system works as well as one could expect. There are the same variety of game types we’ve all seen from previous Call of Duty games. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, and Headquarters are the most familiar to the long time players; and there are even a few new games like War to interest newcomers. All of the game types are based on the same point system from Modern Warfare. Ten points to a kill and two, six, or eight for an assist. It’s an effective and entertaining system that makes you feel better when you come out of a game with four or so kills than in most other deathmatch based multiplayer games. This system also allows people who gain assists throughout a match to actually achieve something from them, which is an excellent addition to gaming from Modern Warfare.

  Ranking up is just as simple as it ever was in Modern Warfare too. After each match, the experience you gained from all of the kills and assists you achieved coupled with a match bonus at the end adds to your total experience. You also gain experience from calling in your recon plane (radar), air strikes, and attack dogs. This all makes ranking up quicker than many games and much more fun. It’s also a lot easier to keep track of over time considering each level has a certain level of experience necessary to move up; and it’s all shown at the end of a match by a progressing bar. After maxing out your level, World at War allows you to go into a “Prestige Mode”. There are multiple times you can prestige. After each though, though, you must start completely over with all of your guns and perks. That all seems absymal considering all it really does is add a special marker beside your name, and increases the number of classes you can create.

  Personalization is a huge part of the “new Call of Duty” era. You can create a certain number of classes, each with it’s own specifications. Your number of classes is based on whether or not you decided to go into Prestige Mode after you max out your level. Within these classes you can choose from a large list of guns and varying perks that change the way your gun fires, how much health you have, give you land mines, or give you an extra chance at being revived or killing someone after your apparent death. These are all useful in their own respects; but many of them are over used and buggy at times, making them a painful addition at times.

  Unfortunately, World at War’s multiplayer is extremely buggy. There is a major issue with the spawn system, for instance. You can spawn directly in front of a large group of enemies and not even get a chance to turn and run before you’re mowed down by an MP-44 sub machine gun. Another huge issue is the dog A.I. in multiplayer. You can call in attack dogs to kill your enemies for you that last for sixty seconds after achieving a seven kill streak. Said dog’s hitboxes are flawed, causing many players to become frustrated after unloading several rounds into one little quadruped only to be pounced and bitten in the neck. These, combined with many other small graphical, sound, and weapon glitches are the cause of many frustrating and unfair deaths in a match, making the multiplayer thoroughly unenjoyable most of the time.

  Finally, Call of Duty: World at War is in many aspects a simple and buggy version of Modern Warfare set in a standard World War II setting. It’s multiplayer is the best part of the game, and even that is quite disappointing. World at War is most certainly not worth the current shelf price, and I would not recommend buying it if you already own, or are trying to decide between this and Modern Warfare.

Single Player Campaign: 4.8/10
Multiplayer: 7.0/10
Graphics: 9.6/10
Voice Acting: 8.8/10
Overall Value: 5/10

Title: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Release Date: February 10, 2009
Platform(s): Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Windows PC
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developers: Monolith Productions
Genre: First Person Shooter, Horror

  F.E.A.R. 2 is now one of my personal favorite games on the Xbox 360, if not of all time. Why? Because it’s loud, violent, spooky, and has a multiplayer that can keep you entertained for hours upon hours. It’s not revolutionary by any means; but it is an excellent and fun game that takes the best things from the first F.E.A.R. game and adds some new things that make it a fresh experience. Combining spooky and dark, but excellent and crisp graphics along with a great story and loads of fun achievements, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin certainly deserves praise.

  Single player campaign was the first thing I was looking forward to. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the original F.E.A.R., so I had high hopes for it’s sequel. The story places the player (Micheal Beckett, a Delta Force operator) in a war between opposing armies. He has a strange connection between the F.E.A.R. poster girl, Alma. Throughout the game the connection begins to grow for various reasons, causing the disturbances from Alma to become more violent and detailed. He is essentially the usual “best of the best” protagonist; but who really minds that?

  It isn’t the longest, most detailed story I’ve seen in a video game. Although it’s somewhat short, it’s quite enjoyable. Alma’s random encounters with the player are fun to watch and sometimes can make you jump out of your skin if you’re not careful. F.E.A.R. being a first person shooter and horror title, I really never expected the deepest of storyline anyway. Voice acting is terrific in my opinion, though. No real complaints here except that I wish it were a longer story. Knowing more about Alma and the player’s relationship would have been nice; and the cliffhanger at the end makes it ever so tempting to purchase a third game if it’s ever to be released.

  The gameplay in F.E.A.R 2 is excellent. Fighting is quick, smooth, and of course, violent. There are a lot of cool elements that make the action unique. For example, you can slow down time and roundhouse kick and enemy to death. Or you can slide tackle them and then do a jumping kick to take out their teammate. These moves take a little getting used to and sometimes can mess up if you’re not accurate with your button pressing; but they’re overall simple to use. Aiming is as sharp and true as any other first person shooter on the market (E.G. If you shoot a person in the head, the head explodes just like it should.).

  Smart and threatening artificial intelligence is another important element that many games lack. Fortunately, Project Origin gives the player a challenge when fighting enemies. The enemy A.I. is quite intelligent and will kill you before you can even turn around if you don’t keep your eyes open. Of course, if you play on a lower difficulty setting, the A.I. is going to dumb down; but on harder difficulties it becomes a much larger challenge to take on four or five soldiers at once. Enemies will barrel roll, throw down cover, throw grenades and work together to take you out as quickly as possible. They still don’t compare to real players in multiplayer, of course; but they will most certainly kill you at the first chance they get.

  Realism is one of the biggest things in F.E.A.R. 2 that made me enjoy it so much. Climbing, falling, kicking, shooting, and strafing all feel like you’re really in the scary, little world that Project Origin places the character in. Moving around feels far more realistic than it does in Call of Duty or Halo 3; and so does the shooting. When you mow down an enemy with your submachine gun and he explodes into pieces, you will probably find yourself laughing or shouting at the screen the first couple of times. It really does feel like you’re taking down the soldiers in single player and the enemies in multiplayer.

  I was very curious about how F.E.A.R. 2 would work with multiplayer. I had never even really thought about playing the original game’s multiplayer because I had games like Quake 3: Arena and Call of Duty to keep me entertained at the time that I played it. Now that I look back, I kind of wish I would have at least checked it out. Online play for F.E.A.R. 2 is extremely fun and just as violent and satisfying as the campaign. Most of the game modes are stereotypical first person shooter games. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Search and Destroy are all present. With different titles and a few little twists, they are somewhat different; but they remain the same basic games you see in something like Unreal Tournament. Although they have the same games doesn’t mean that they aren’t as good; if not better.

  You can either play simple, unranked matches in Player matches, or you can build up your experience level and gain achievements in the Ranked matches. Achievements can only be gained in the ranked mode, which is a little disappointing; but it doesn’t make that much of a difference anyway. There is no real party system like in Halo or Call of Duty, however. This makes playing with friends more difficult because you can’t just join up and go play together in a Player match. You can, however, host ranked matches, and your friends can search the criteria in the Custom Match menu. This Custom Match menu allows you to search for specific games based on whatever game mode and map you want to play. Combining this along with the Host feature allows you and your friends to rank up on any game mode, map, and with any number of people (with a minimum of usually four and up, depending on the game type). This makes it a far more personal and versatile multiplayer experience than Halo 3 or Call of Duty.

  Like Call of Duty, you can customize your player with three “Loadouts”. Loadouts allow you to choose what armor and weapons your player is equipped with during online matches. These are managed by a simple, but effective, point allocation system. You can choose from three basic sets of armor, an array of weapons and grenades, and whether or not to carry a health pack. All of these cost points, and you can always go back to edit the Loadouts to use the points on something else. These custom classes also work in any game mod on either ranked or player matches.

  Achievements are a very nice addition to the game and most aren’t too terribly difficult to obtain. This makes the game feel like you’re working towards something even after you’ve completed the campaign, which adds much replay value to it. They’re not few and far between like some games; but they also don’t just hand them to you on a silver platter. I would have liked to have seen maybe a few more difficult ones; but for the most part, the achievements are challenging and fun to obtain.

  Overall, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is an extremely fun game. It’s not groundbreaking, but it does have it’s own original perks and tweaks that make it more fun and versatile than many other first person shooters on the market. It’s quite creepy, but not as scary as something like Doom 3 so you don’t have to worry about screaming in the middle of the night while you’re playing at three A.M. Although, I don’t recommend doing that because you might get nightmares from all the gore…

Single Player Campaign: 7.8/10
Multiplayer: 9.2/10
Graphics: 9.8/10
Voice Aciting: 9.0/10
Overall Value: 9.8/10