PC

Medal of Honor: Warfighter – Debut Trailer

Here is the new trailer for Medal of Honor: Warfighter. What I loved most about Medal of Honor was the intimate single player campaign that it brought to a over-saturated over-the-top modern military single player campaign that we are so used to playing. Judging from the trailer below it looks like Warfighter will indeed have a bigger scale with more action set pieces. You should never put a lot into a trailer so my fingers are crossed for a more intimate single player campaign.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Danger Close ditched that in favor of what is “hot” these days. Judging from the looks of it it looks like we will be visiting the Philippines which appears to be the focus of this particular trailer. Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a first person shooter developed by Danger Close and published by Electronic Arts. The game will be available on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 October 23, 2012. Thanks GamerSpawn.

Batman: Arkham City Harley Quin’s Revenge Pack Story Trailer

Finally, Batman: Arkham City gets some worthy DLC in Harley Quin’s Revenge. If you’re wondering why Harley Quin wants revenge against Batman look no further to the Joker. The trailer shows Batman falling into Quin’s trap while trying to rescue a trapped cop. Next we Robin jump onto the scene with his acrobatic fighting style and weaponry. Personally I am stoked to play as Robin.

I managed to see a few new takedowns for Batman and Robin during the video.  Batman Arkham City was one of the best games to release last year let alone the best Batman game to ever be created so this DLC is welcomed. Batman: Arkham City Harley Quin’s Revenge DLC drops May 29 for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. If you want to read a really good Batman: Arkham City review I suggest you visit Video Games Source, Thanks GamerSpawn for the video.

Max Payne 3 – Early Campaign Review

***SPOILERS*** Its been nine years since the release of the last Max Payne game. The wait is finally over gamers as Max Payne 3 is amongst us, or should I say me? This particular article details my early experiences pertaining to the single player campaign of Max Payne 3. If you want my final review as well multiplayer review of Max Payne 3 check out Video Games Source regularly. Max Payne 3 is a noire style action game developed by Rockstar Studios and published by Rockstar Games for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The game released today May 15, 2012.

I have some history with Max Payne. Besides watching the Mark Wahlberg movie I have completed both games on my original Xbox. This time I am playing the game on my Playstation 3. The first thing I noticed was the long install time of Max Payne 3. I didn’t check to see the file size however I haven’t had to wait this long for a install in a long time. Upon start up you see a cutscene of Max moving into his new apartment in Sao Paulo Brazil. Voice dialog and music immediately brings me back regarding Max Payne’s noire. Max talks about a “new start” amongst other things during the opening cutscene which gives you a really good indication as to what kind of a man Max Payne is. After the cutscene your now at the main menu screen showing a animated image of Max Payne drinking and smoking a cigarette. The menus include: Story, Arcade, Multiplayer, Settings and Playstation Store. The main menu screen also has a Social Club and News area to explore with Start and R1 L1 buttons respectively.

Next I choose Settings and wrote down the default button layout for the Dual Shock 3: LS-move, Select-attachments, D-pad-pain killer, camera toggle, quick turn, L3-crouch/prone, L1-weapon wheel, L2-shoulder aim, Start-pause, RS-camera, X-sprint, vault, roll, Square-cover, Circle-reload, Triangle-interact, R3-bulletime, R1-shoot dodge and R2-fire. At first I was messing up with the controls since I haven’t played a Max Payne game since my Xbox days. As I settled in I was taking cover, using the weapon wheel and engaging bulletime like it was nobody’s business.  The controls are solid so far. I love shooting while prone full 360 degrees. Max Payne 3 doesn’t totally feel like the older Max Paynes per say, that is due to the new cover system I am thinking.

I then choose Story to get the campaign started. The Story menu tabs broke down into New, Continue, Chapter Select and Grinds (achievements/trophies). Difficulty comes in the form of Easy, Medium, Hard, Hardcore and Old School. I choose Medium just so I can run through the game and get it reviewed at a respectable date. Next up was Targeting which gave me the choices of Hard Lock, Soft Lock and Free Aim. I choose Soft Lock which locks hard in my opinion. I could imagine what Hard Lock feels like. As for the chapters I completed they were Something Rotten In The Air, Nothing But The Second Best and Just Another Day At The Office. I am currently at the beginning of Chapter 4: Anyone Can Me A Drink which is a flashback sequence telling us why Max had to leave New Jersey.

As for the story so far it revolves around the main protagonist we all know and love Max Payne. Max became a bodyguard after hooking up with a long time associate Raul Pesos (hope I spelled his name right). Max moves down to Sao Paulo Brazil and becomes a hired bodyguard for a rich business man named Rodrigo Branco. Max is more in charge of protecting his wife Fabiana more than anything. Gangs have tried to kidnap her in the first chapter and was actually successful in the second chapter. The third chapter was to negotiate her release by giving her captures 3 million dollars but things went wrong badly for Max and Raul. As for a overall synopis of the first three chapters you have shootouts with gangs in a penthouse, a nightclub and a big futball stadium (I am American btw).

The gameplay is a mash-up of cover based shooting and using bulletime. You have to take pain killers to restore health and searching around for clues like celeb magazines and dropped photos fleshes out the missions. There are also golden gun collectibles in each mission that you can find. There are scenes where Max must use bulletime on moving helicopters and other times when he was  protecting Raul in the Futball stadium. The gameplay doesn’t really add nothing spectacularly new to the series but is nonetheless fun and quite visceral due to the updated visuals and sound design.

The main thing I can say about the gameplay is that its addicting so far. When you get your last kill the screen transitions into a slo-mo kill cam that really brings out the gore and hit detection system in Max Payne 3. The guns I played with range from Uzis, pistols, small machine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles (so far). Yes you can mix and match some guns for dual wielding which I have done. Every gun does have a distinct feel with Max acting accordingly in a realistic manner when using different weapons depending on size and weight.  Playing through the first couple chapters I can really appreciate Max Payne’s presentation. Its strong in my opinion like every other Rockstar game.

The atmosphere is thick but not as dark (so far). The visuals are impressive showcasing nice textures in-game as well in cutscenes. There were some clear framerate issues during some cutscenes and big shoot-out sequences but not many. Overall I would say the game runs really good despite the hiccups. The music is really good along with the voice actors so far. The world has that glow like previous Rockstar games have. So far I would say the first couple of chapters in Max Payne 3′s single player are action based and gives us little in the way of story. I know this is a methodical game and the story will heat up eventually. Overall, so far, so good gamers. Thanks for reading.

Spec Ops: The Line – Demo Review

Spec Ops: The Line is a third person shooter developed by German based developer Yager. 2K Games are the publishers of Spec Ops: The Line. The release date as of today is June 26, 2012 and will release on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. As for the demo my short answer would be that it was good. If you want the long answer keep reading. For the record I played the demo on my Playstation 3.

Spec Ops: The Line’s title screen shows Demo and Options. The controls are default for the Dual Shock 3: LS-move/crouch, RS-look/aim, D-pad-grenade type, secondary fire, next grenade, Select-show intel, L1-aim, L2-throw grenade, Start-menus, R1-shoot, R2-command squad, Triangle-switch weapon, O-melee/vault, Y-cover/sprint/context actions, Square-reload/pick up. If you played Gears of War or Uncharted Spec Ops has a similar gameplay style. However I thought Spec Ops had a more complicated button layout which felt odd compared to Gears of War and Uncharted’s more streamlined layout. I’m not saying the controls are bad they are decent. Aiming, shooting diving into cover and vaulting over cover was pretty fluid. Giving orders to squadmates takes some getting used to.

I choose Combat Ops for my difficulty and got the demo started. The demo opens up with a flashback on-rails helicopter sequence with you manning a chaingun in third person. You take out helicopters over Dubai in extreme action movie fashion with huge explosions, dust storms and destroyed skyscrapers in the distance. Eventually you go down in your chopper and the scene transitions to present time. Now you play the role of protagonist Captain Martin Walker along with Lugo and Adams who are in search of John Conrad (the guy who went down in the chopper). Early gameplay was a tutorial that took place outside of a destroyed Dubai. You learn the basics like marking targets and giving orders to Lugo and Adams. You learn how to use the enviroment (sand) as a tactical advantage as well.

You fight against rebels in the first portion of the demo and then PMC soldiers in the second part. I really like the setting in Spec Ops: The Line. You fight in a wrecked airliner, around skyscrapers (outside and inside). Level design did seem compact often times with the AI getting in your way literally. The AI wasn’t very good in this game that much is clear.  Collectibles include Intel scattered about. There are in-game cutscenes and quite a bit of voiced dialog during missions and after missions. The story doesn’t seem engaging. I know there are two rival factions involved and they are both trying to kill off Martin Walker and his team. Dubai is in a current civil war like state.

The demo did a really nice job at showing gameplay and in particular the guns. Some of the guns I played with during the demo included: AK-47, MHA1,Uzis, Pistol, W1300 Shotgun, M249 SAW, UMP 45 and a Sniper Rifle. You can attatch silencers on some of the guns in-game. The guns felt and performed decent. If you are wondering you have to play the second part of the demo Chapter 5 “The Edge” to get the Sniper Rifle, SAW and UMP 45. After you shoot some enemies you can perform executions with your gun or fist by pressing O when they are on the ground.  The wildest enemy is a guy with a knife who dodges bullets like a maniac and just runs at you. You can revive fallen squad-mates in-game. I did not die once so I am not sure if the AI revives you but I am pretty sure they will.

The missions included stuff like locating a distress beacon and rescuing and evacing Alpha company. The main goal initially is to rescue John Conrad. You know how these games go, the story and mission will change as the story unfolds. Spec-Ops: The Line does have a real sense of scope and scale during some repelling down skyscraper sequences. Fighting in destroyed Dubai with the sand storms and the ability to use sand as a weapon adds a small unique gameplay element to Spec Ops: The Line. As for the graphics they were ok during in-game except for the waxy faces visuals. The game has that Unreal Engine depth of field blur also. Textures up close are decent. The sound design was good. You do get a good sense of scale regarding shootouts. The music also brings out the game’s atmosphere and was presented nicely.

To sum up the demo I thought it was better than I had initially thought it might be. The demo does have a good length showcasing  many of Spec Ops: The Line’s  gameplay elements and story. The game appears to be rough around the edges from a performance perspective judging from the demo. Its still a good demo and hopefully game when it ships. Thanks for reading.

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record – Demo Review

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is a spin-off of sorts from the game with the same name in Dead Rising 2. I was fortunate enough to play one full hour via Playstation +’s program on the Playstation 3. I’m a fan of Dead Rising 2. I even wrote a review for that game somewhere on this site. I really enjoyed it. The question now is, how does Off The Record stacks up to Dead Rising 2? Dead Rising2: Off The Record is a action game published by Capcom and developed by Capcom Vancouver for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

The title screen had menus that consisted of Start Game, Play Online and Art Gallery. When you select Start Game the tabs break down into Story Mode and Sandbox Mode. I decided to play Story Mode first to see how it differs from Dead Rising 2. The story mode in Dead Rising 2: Off The Record starts off showing the rise and failure of Frank West after the events of Willamette. Much like in the beginning of Dead Rising 2 Frank takes part in TK’s game show just as Chuck Greene did. You have to make zombies crawl into a meat grinder. Frank is dressed in a wrestling suit and the fight takes place in a wrestling ring.

The events that started after seems like a copy paste game. That being copying Frank West and putting him in Chuck Green’s place. The latter has to do with most of the cutscenes that take place early in the game. Also keep in mind I only played thirty minutes of the story so things could always change. TK is behind the plot as you take Frank behind the scenes with his camera and take photos of TK. The photo gameplay is back from Dead Rising. The game is very similar to Dead Rising 2. You need to find Zombrex and find out what TK is up to. The odd thing is that the story of Off The Record happens the exact same time as Dead Rising 2.

Just like in Dead Rising 2 you must rescue survivors and collect combo cards and use work benches to create wild weapons. There are checkpoint saves and normal restroom saves from previous Dead Risings. Time is of the essence and drop in and out co-op is available for the story campaign. I couldn’t for the life of me find a co-op partner on PSN. I played Dead Rising 2 co-op and loved it. You can take photos for money and XP. Special PP Posters nets you big money and XP.  There were big performance issues like framrates and stuttering in Dead Rising 2: Off The Record. The visuals also didn’t look the best for some reason.

After putting half of my allotted hour into the story campaign I jumped into Sandbox Mode. Sandbox Mode is the reason you should buy Dead Rising 2: Off The Record in my opinion. Sandbox Mode is a open world mode with no time limits. Crazy survivors roam the city and there are special Challenges you can complete. Completing Challenges provides rewards. The first Challenge you encounter is Rooftop Massacre. The opening cutscene shows Frank being dropped on a roof and yelling “This is my Vacation”. The atmosphere is fun and wacky in Sandbox Mode. Soon after completing my first Challenge I ran into a crazed survivor named Gordon who I killed.

I was able to make a Saw Launcher and kill about 500 zombies before the game shut off. Sandbox Mode was fun and totally felt different than the story campaign. I felt free to experiment and cause chaos in Fortune City. You have no time limits or Zombrex to take. You just explore Fortune City and make crazy weapons, and oh yea, kill zombies. Dead Rising 2: Off The Record would be a deal at $10.00. As of now the price is too high in my opinion. Thanks for reading.

Battlefield 3 – Rent a Server: Console Video

Here is a good video via Gamerspawn showing the features when renting a server for Battlefield 3 on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. I actually went through and checked out the servers after the update a few days ago. You can check out pricing and info from the main title screen of Battlefield 3. Battlefield 3 now offers whats been available for the PC BF players for years. Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers can know rent multiplayer servers and create their own Battlefield 3 experience. What this means is you can purchase a set package of days or months off XBL and PSN and have your own custom server to mess around on. This is perfect for guys who like making stunt or lulz type vids.

Its also for serious players who want to game with a certain clan, crowd or group. You can make special friend’s VIPs so they don’t have to wait in line for your server providing you added them. All in all this is, or was a PC type deal that console gamers can now enjoy. The video shows the player turning off the HUD and retweaking spawn times. If your a Battlefield 3 player who likes creating new and unique gameplay elements you should probably rent your own server and have fun. I have played on a few custom servers (PS3) and everyone one of them have been pretty good and diverse in gameplay. Thanks for reading.

Homefront – Review

Published By: THQ, Developed By: Kaos Studios, Genre: First-Person Shooter, Release Date: March 15, 2011, Rating: M, Systems: PC, Playtstation 3, Xbox 360.

Presentation: Homefront paints a dark a dreary painting of  a crippled America under the occupation of the Greater Korean Republic. Homefront as a game and presentation is a classic rough around the edges first-person shooter. By no means is it a bad shooter as I will point out many of the game’s strengths during the review. Its just that it has that “lets copy and paste some great aspects from Call of Duty and Battlefield on our game” presentation which works for and against Homefront. Homefront’s best attribute should of been its single player story campaign. It should have been longer than 5 hours and had a richer narrative and characters. I mean this is Red Dawn basically. If you grew up during the “80′s” you know about Red Dawn. Homefront’s story was written by the same author John Millius so in hindsight I was expecting a much more captivating single player campaign then what I received.

I played Homefront through STEAM on my PC (obviously). For the most part minus the last sequence on the Golden Gate Bridge the game ran smooth for the most part. Explosions did slow down my frame rate. My PC is based around DX9, 4870 graphics card, quad core and 6 gigs of RAM. Specs: 1280 x 960 resolutions, overall quality was custom. Anti Aliasing 2x. Everything was set to High such as texture detail and shadow quality. The game did stutter during the campaign and slowed down some during big action sequences. During multiplayer when trying to connect to matches the game froze quite a bit. For the most part Homefront’s presentation is good thanks to the unique and unorthodox setting it takes place in.

Story: Although the story might appear to be out there it does paint a decent picture for Homefront. In the not so distant future due to America’s crippling economy and the emergence of The Greater Korean Republic. America’s defenses were wiped out by a satalite that the Greater Korean Republic used. Immediately America was overtaken and now under KPA occupation. The game picks up in Montros Colorado. The year is 2027 and you’re Jacobs an ex-pilot who the resistance breaks out of KPA clutches in the nick of time. The Resistance is comprised of a few members who serve as AI partners throughout Homefront’s campaign. You first hook up with Rianna and Connor Morgan. You soon meet Boone (the CO) and Hopper who is a Korean American and just might be the most interesting character in the game (he’s from Oakland).

Boone would be killed by KPA forces early into the campaign which leads the rest of the team on a mission to hijack a couple of fuel tankers through Utah, Nevada and finally San Francisco where the final battle plays out. The Resistance’s goal is to meet up with U.S. Military Forces and give they’re vehicles the fuel. The story of Homefront had potential written all over it and the beginning to mid-game was captivating. The setting of America really appeared as much. You fight in White Castles and a Tiger Direct.com Discount Computer store. You see a Hooters in one chapter. There are many Full throttle Energy Drink dispensers knocked over that you can take cover behind. The mass graves scene in a baseball field really let you know the brutality of the enemy and the importance of the Resistance. Like I aluded to before, I saw a lot of potential within Homefront’s world but didn’t see it consistently throughout the campaign.

Visuals: Not that good by PC standards. However Homefront does look ok even with its washed out look. One aspect I found weird regarding Homefront’s graphics were the silver glowy glazed faces of NPCs most notably Connor and Hopper. They looked like ghosts. The gun models and settings are probably the most impressive consistant visuals this game offers. One section has Jacobs piloting a  small attack chopper to provide air support for a caravan. The explosions in that section were nice. The Golden Gate Bridge section featured Jets flying over and  tank battles. Near the end a enemy Goliath boss fight takes place on the bridge. Static and washed out with decent art imagination can describe Homefront’s look.

Sound: The orchestra score was good. It gave you that total fight for freedom vibe which is what this game is all about. The writing and voice acting should have been better especially considering the game’s setting and circumstances. Connor would say the same line in-game over and over. It got annoying. The guns had a unique sound design. Some guns had a semi-sci-fi sound emanating from them.

Gameplay: Homefront has that move up to stop spawning enemies linear gameplay much like in Call of Duty’s single player. To my surprise was how good the actual shooting and gameplay is. Homefront doesn’t try to do anything unique. If anything it seems to copy other elite first-person shooters which is fine. The Goliath is a rolling mobile vehicle of destruction. During certain sections in Homefront’s campaign you can use a targeter to take out tanks, attack choppers and enemies which Goliath will do accordingly. This might sound weird but Goliath almost appeared as a character to me. They had to sacrifice it midway through the game to knock down a wall that led to Utah.

Replayability: The single player campaign barely lasts 5 hours which is ridiculous. Luckily for me, or should I say Homefront  this game has a full-blown multiplayer to explore. Homefront features typical menus for multiplayer like Quick Match, Armory, Challenges and Practice Map. There are more but those are the important menus in my opinion. Classes are all fully realized with gadgets, perks and unique weapons. They include: Assault, SMG, Heavy, Sniper, Tactical and Explosive. Depending on which lobby you will have to unlock Tactical and Explosive. Battle Points or (BP) are Homefront’s in-game credit system that lets you unlock items and vehicles in matches. You can unlock stuff like spawn in vehicles etc. You can use Battle Points to unlock your gadgets in-game. Its a very simple system to use and understand.

The matches on PC were 32 players total. Maps I played on which were all ripped from the single-player campaighn: Farm, Cul De Sac, Angel Island, Crossroads, Green Zone and Bridge. Matchtypes included: Team Deathmatches, Battle Commander, Ground Control and Battle Commander (TDM). Battle Commander is similar to Conquest on Battlefield. The multiplayer is fun and will keep you entertained for a while. The gadgets, vehicles and unlocks do sorta remind me of Battlefield games. The quick twitch gunplay reminds me of Call of Duty which is a good thing. The problem is that everything doesn’t mesh well like Battlefield or Call of Duty. But hey, that is the price  you pay when your trying to be something your not.

Final Verdict: Homefront is your classic mixed-bag good at some things bad at others shooter. it does borrow some great ideas from other successful games within the genre. I just can’t get over the single player campaign. It was chalked full of potential unrealized.

7/10 

F.E.A.R. 3 – Review

Published By: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Developer: Day 1 Studios, Genre: Shooter, Release Date: June 21, 2011, Rating M, Systems: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360.

Presentation: Back in 2006 the original FEAR released and with it a horrifically graphical shooter emerged. The original FEAR was more about fear (no pun intended) than FEAR 3 is. FEAR back in 2006 also set the bar high with its graphics and slo-mo effects. Times have changed since then and FEAR 3 is more shooter with a few slight scares along the way. When I analyze Fear 3′s presentation I see good and bad. The good has to do with the atmosphere and world that is being teared apart by Alma’s contractions. There is also plenty of content in this game. You can play the entire campaign in a competition style co-op. There is a multiplayer that features some good ideas as well.

The bad has to do with the glitches, AI and static visuals. Like I alluded to earlier, FEAR was known as one of the greatest looking video games. While FEAR 3 doesn’t look bad it definitely doesn’t set any benchmarks in the visual department. The AI seemed mindless throughout the campaign. I can’t tell you how many times I saw Armacham forces just standing around while I was in front of them about to shoot. FEAR 3 is a linear corridor shooter. The level design throughout was pretty boring however each unique setting kept the game fresh enough. FEAR 3 is clearly a game that is good. Its just rough around the edges in a few spots. As far as navigating the game goes its not complicated but could be better regarding menus and definitions.

Story: FEAR 3 reunites Pointman (from the first game) and Paxton Fettel (the main badguy from the first game). Did I mention Pointman and Paxton are brothers who were experimented on in a secret lab by a crazed Doctor? The two boys were being engineered to become super soldiers. The poster child of FEAR is Alma and although she is back she isn’t as big of a story aspect unless you want to count the fact that she is having a baby. The story gets weird during FEAR 3. Alma’s contractions are literally ripping the world apart and turning the sky blood red. The two brothers work together reluctantly to seek out Alma and kill the baby.

During your search to reunite with Alma you rescue Jin (original member of FEAR unit). After helping Jin you search for Delta squad member Michael Bennett who is captured by Armacham forces. If you don’t know about Armacham, they are the bad-guys in FEAR games. The focus near the end of the game is clearly Harlan Wade. Harlan is the boy’s old Doc who turned them into killers. He is also known as The Creep and the final boss fight in FEAR 3. the final boss fight wasn’t very good. Just throwing that out there. As far as the story goes it isn’t Shakespeare folks. Its sporadic and all over the place regarding plots and focus. The in-game atmosphere was the saving grace regarding the story. Without that the story would have been even worse since the cutscenes and voice acting weren’t very good.

Visuals: Like I said in the presentation snippit. FEAR was once known as a graphical powerhouse. The slo-mo effects, textures and art design was something to behold back in 2006. FEAR 3 is a good-looking game. What I enjoyed was the diverity in the settings. You had creepy houses and basement settings. You had a daylight suburban setting that changed things up. You had a shantytown area. You had a big metropolis setting. Texture work was decent on buildings and character models. The lighting during certain areas of the game was impressive. The kill animations were impressive. Overall FEAR 3 isn’t as jaw dropping as its previous games but it gets the job done.

Sound: The creepy sound effects have always been good in FEAR games and this one is no different. Atmosphere in FEAR 3 is mostly created by sound effects to create cheap fear tactics. For the most part the game keeps you on your toes while navigating dark passageways. Each type of enemy and gun makes a unique sound effect that stays in your head. Paxston’s voice actor did a good job in-game with his lines. As far as music goes all that I remember is the Danzig song that played during the credits.

Gameplay: FEAR 3 is a first-person shooter through and through. There is a true cover shooting element as well. You can lock-on to objects and peek side to side. Many objects in the environment  can provide adequate cover. Playing on the hardest difficulty you will have to use cover the entire campaign. New to Fear 3 is the slide kick move that has been done in other games. You can still use slow motion while your gauge is filled up. The guns and shooting in this game was satisfying. Gibbing headshots with a sniper rifle felt good. Every gun felt powerful and unique but not overpowered.

Power Armor are mechs and there are two kinds you can use during certain sequences in the campaign. My favorite sequence was the bridge scene as you make your way to Port Authority Airport. Power Armor are fun. Taking down choppers other Power Armor units and Armacham soldiers was fun. The gameplay was actually fun it was just that the AI of the enemies was fail. I also didn’t like the level design. Although linear I found myself backtracking and getting lost due to the game’s lack of direction and map design.

Replayability: The story campaign can last over 6 hours. Furthermore it can also be played in full co-op (network). I unfortunately didn’t get anybody to play the campaign online with. PSN didn’t have any players online when I played. I tried to set up a few rooms for co-op but no one showed up. FEAR 3 has four player co-op multiplayer that is actually fun and novel in some ways. Contractions is a gamemode where you and four players have to build and fortify a building and fight waves of enemies. There is also Soul Survivor, Fucking Run (that is the name) and Soul King. All gamemodes provide a different style of gameplay for the user. I pretty much enjoyed all gamemodes but some did get older faster than others.

Final Verdict: FEAR 3 is more shooter than horror game that much is certain. The inclusion of unique multiplayer gamemodes and the co-op campaign makes FEAR 3 a good game.

7/10

Mass Effect 3 – Early Impressions

Mass Effect 3 has finally landed and it is now time to save earth. Strap your space boots up soldiers cause this is gonna be one hell of a intergalactic ending to the Mass Effect trilogy. So how are the first couple of hours of Mass Effect 3′s story campaign? Good. Its good so far but let me give you the run down of my experiences via this early impressions article. First off yes i am playing Mass Effect 3 on my Playstation 3 which right about now has me feeling pretty fail honestly. The reason being I played and beat the first two on my Xbox 360 and had all of my  import save files on there. I simplay wasn’t thinking when I ordered it at the time. Its ok I still have my M-55 Argus Rifle from my pre-order at Amazon.  Mass Effect 3 is a RPG developed by Bioware and published by Electronic Arts for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is out now.

Setting Up Your Character

Just like with every Mass Effect game before it you initially have to set your character up if you have no import data. You start out having to Choose Your Experience which tailers Mass Effect 3′s gameplay accordingly to your liking. Here you can pick between Action, Role Playing and Story. I choose Role Playing since that is how the older two games played which helps me feel more comfortable playing Insanity. Classes: Soldier, Infiltrator, Vanguard, Sentinal, Adept and Engineer. For my class i choose Sentinal since that class is strong with biotics and engineer powers and it doesn’t help that Sentinals can use all weapons and have special biotic shields. I am playing my first playthrough on Insanity difficulty.

Next you have to go through your psychological make-up and soldier history options. You have to either pick Space Cadet, Colonist or Earthborn. Since Mass Effect 3 is about saving Earth i went with Earthborn (felt appropriate). You then have to choose between Sole Survivor, War Hero and Ruthless. I choose War Hero since I plan on being good Shepard this playthrough. Next you have to pick who died in your previous playthroughs (Mass Effect) serving Commander Shepard. Here you can choose that both Ashley Williams and Kaiden Alenko died serving. Or you could choose Ashley Williams separately or Kaiden separately. I went with Kaiden because he was the first to die when I played Mass Effect my first time while tracking down Saren Arterius.

The Game

The Button layout for the Dual Shock 3: LS-move, RS-camera, Dpad-Up: squad attack, Right: squadmate 2/attack, Down: ralley, Left: squadmate 1/move, attack, L1-tight aim, L2-mapped power/ weapon wheel, Select-quick save, Start-mission computer, R1-shoot, R2-mapped power, Triangle-mapped power, O-melee, X-use/take cover, quick vault/storm, Square-reload/switch weapon. This is the first time i ever played Mass Effect with the Dual Shock 3 and guess what? It works! It has more to do with Mass Effect 3′s default button set-up and mainly its mapped powers. Performing combos are seamless (so far). It also seems like when you manual biotic command like Throw or Warp from quick select it connects to your target more effectively than previous games The melee looks and feels totally different. You can melee from behind cover (I did it to a few Cerberus guards already).

Combining powers is a effective strategy while playing on Insanity. Early in Mass Effect you meet back up with Liara T’soni on Mars investigating a old Prothean archive. Liara comes equip with a biotic called Singularity (creates a small blackhole around enemies and sucks them into it). They don’t literally get sucked in though. My strategy has been to use Singularity on a small group of enemies then quick command either Throw or Warp. From a combat perspective its effective and quite easy to perform. The controls aren’t perfect however. I still experience getting stuck on cover and walls. The new roll strafe takes some getting used to as well. I must say the controls do seem more action based when controlling Shepard. I wonder how the sprint and roll works in multiplayer.

The beginning of Mass Effect 3 starts out on Earth in the midst of a huge Reaper attack filled with giant Dreadnoughts and small ships dropping down Husks and Cannibals. Earth is basically being demolished at a fast rate. Captain David Andersen reenlists Shepard and tells him to travel to the Citadel Council to enlist there help but first I had to make a trip to Mars. The Mars sequence is filled with Cerberus agents in search of information that can stop the Reapers. I notice Weapon Benches during the Mars mission. At Weapon Benches you can pick your team’s gun loadout and mod weapons (but only at the benches). You pick up quite a few armor pieces early in the game gauntlets, chest plates etc. There are a few weapon mods laying about as well.

To unlock new abilities such as the Grenade Lift you have to reach level 6 first. I’m level 5 (so close). As far as leveling up your class powers there is a new design that branches out into a tree-like branch pattern. Say you want to upgrade Warp. You gain XP by collecting, killing and story progression to acquire upgrade points. Warp’s upgrade interface goes from rank 1 to 6 with 8 slots to fill that takes different upgrade points. Some slots increase damage and recharge speed for Warp. At the bottom of the screen you can see Warp’s stats as you choose an upgrade. I like the new upgrade system. It more in-depth and adds some RPG back into this RPG if you catch my drift.

Early in Mass Effect 3 you meet James who is a ex Cerburus agent now Alliance member (interesting). You meet up with Ashley Williams who servs with Shepard in the game’s first mission. You hook back up with Liara T’soni on Mars (like i alluded to above). You communicate with Joker on the Normandy but don’t see him. EDI the Normandy’s AI is back. As far as where I am in Mass Effect 3 I escaped an attack on Earth to get help. I flew to Mars to get information on how the Protheans were about to defeat the Reapers. I’m still currently at the Mars station fighting Cerburus Guardians and other grunts. i died a few times but purely out of carelessness.

As far as everything else goes Mass Effect 3 is solid. The cinematic opening game’s tutorial was fantastic. The gameplay so far is really good with the classic Mass Effect dialog trees. Combat is more fast pace and visceral. The guns feel really unique. The voice acting and writing are good so far. I’m involved in the game’s atmosphere and its holding me in which is the the sign of a great game. There are some performance issues regarding cutscenes (choppiness and stuttering frame rates). During gameplay there are performance issues but not nearly as noticeable like it was in cutscenes.

Its early but Mass Effect 3 is showing me some good things. Its a different Mass Effect but its also a very good Mass Effect so far. If you want to check out my multiplayer impressions and final review make sure to visit Videogames Source in the next few days. Thanks.

Max Payne 3 – Mini 30 Rifle Trailer

Here is the new trailer for Max Payne 3 featuring the Mini-30 rifle. The video below shows Max Payne taking out groups of thugs using the Mini 30 rifle’s scope with lethal accuracy. The Mini 30 has a 20 round capacity and 100 meters range. The rifle also appears to have melee benefits. I’ll tell you what, the Mini 30 looks like a solid rifle that i’ll make good use of when i buy Max Payne 3. On a side note i’m pretty hyped for Max Payne 3. If you played the older two games you would know why.

I played both Max Payne and Max Payne 2 on my Xbox years back. Max Payne has a great noir presentation. The gameplay, story, sound and visuals were also really solid in those games. If Max Payne 3 is anything like the old bulletime games we as gamers are in for a real treat. Max Payne 3 is a action game published by Rockstar Games and developed by Rockstar Studios. The game releases May 15, 2012 for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Thanks GamerSpawn.