6 AXIS DualShock 3 Wireless Controller for PS3 Playstation 3 Orange

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i wanted an orange ps3 controller but sony doesnt make them so i got this, it shipped fast and it works great only thing was the 4 buttons on the right were very colorful instead of the black with a small letter if u can overlook tht or switch the buttons with a sony controller (which i did) then the controller looks exactly like a sony one no difference that i can tell

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After having the four year old "wash" three brand name ps3 controllers and all three kids fighting, we opted for a cheaper alternative for replacements. Now they all have their own color and they work exactly the same as the name brand Sony controllers!

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Its just like the original controller that comes with the PS3 but its ORANGE! And i love orange! It works great and looks great its the perfect controller for me

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ETERNAL SONATA

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I keep hearing how the PS3 is largely void of role-playing games and that the genre is ignored in favor of more popular shooters. While the latter might be somewhat true, games like Eternal Sonata prove that quality RPGs are on the PS3.

For a longtime RPG fan Eternal Sonata is a bit of a strange game at least in the sense that I've never quite played a game like it before. First, the setting takes place in Europe in the 1800's and revolves around the pianist Frederic Chopin. The game is part tribute to Chopin and part fantasy. In the game Chopin has fallen ill and in his unconscious state creates a dream world. This is where the player will spend the majority of their time.

In the dream world people who can use magic are all terminally ill non magic users are rightfully terrified of those with magical abilities. Set in a land called Forte with a ruler named Count Waltz the game introduces a rag tag group of characters each with their own motivations for change. Eventually the characters will form an alliance and rise against the forces threatening their world. Periodically the game will shift back to "reality" where Chopin lies ill and introduce brief historical highlights of Chopin's life.

Because the obvious musical influence music plays a large part in the game. Each of the characters in named after various musical influences, additionally the player will collect pieces of "set pieces" of musical scores that combined with NPCs can net the player special items. The soundtrack to the game itself is brilliant and one of the best musical scores I've ever heard in a video game.

Combat is an interesting mix of action and turn-based. The player is given an action gauge in which you have a set amount of time to perform your attacks. Attacks are broken down to physical attacks, item based attacks or special attacks. Each successful hit builds a combo meter that when unleashed with a special attack causes more damage. Build up the combo meter enough and you can unleash a special animation with your attack.

An interesting twist to the combat is that as you progress in the game the combat mechanics level up too. This serves to both increase the difficulty and your party's abilities. For example when you start the game the action meter only counts down when you're moving on the combat map and executing attacks. Stand still and the meter will stop. This allows for a new player to take time and think actions out beforehand without pressure. Later the time meter will not only give you less time to act but also start counting down from the moment you take your first step and won't stop until the timer runs out. On the other hand your "item bag" where you store items to use in combat will upgrade from the initial 10 points (each item has a point value) to 20 points and eventually more. I found this a very refreshing take on combat!

The graphics themselves are amazing. Eternal Sonata is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Some might be disappointed at the 720p resolution of the game. But let me put those fears aside this game is gorgeous from the get-go.

If I had to pick a few things I don't like about the game it would easily have to be the voice overs and very linear gameplay. Not all the voice overs are bad, some are actually quite good. However, certain characters Polka have such childish voices and mannerisms that it's near unbearable. The good news is that the game does feature the ability to turn on the Japanese voice overs and play the game with English subtitles.

The linear gameplay, well love it or hate, it's different for everyone. Personally I've love the ability to explore the amazing world of Eternal Sonata on my own terms rather than follow and linear path. But I understand not every game is about massive exploration.

File Eternal Sonata under "overlooked gem". Don't be one of those players that passes up on the game because it's a port of the X360 original or is turned of by the look. Eternal Sonata is worthy of any RPG-lovers time.

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3.5/5 (Rounded up, It's a story thing) Imagine a fantasy fan-fic of Chopin's dying days. You might imagine something along the lines of Eternal Sonata...but it's not likely. Its seems to me like what might come of a less successful collaboration between Tri-Ace and Level 5. It's an action-y JRPG. It has a Level 5 look and sound to it. I'll try and be concise.

I enjoyed the game. The world and characters are colorful and beautifully cell-shaded. The cast is also cute and mostly kid-friendly even by conservative standards just the occasional "damn" in there, some sparkly violence, and your run of the mill maniacal bad guy wanting to rule the world. You'll solve a few puzzles and the battle system has a fun, beat 'em up combo, timed, turn-based style. Your attacks and spells also change, as assigned by you, according to whether you are standing in shade or light. As the game progresses, your "Party Level" will increase making battle slightly more difficult. A couple of fun little anomalies in this style. The game is broken up into chapters and each one comes with a song and a bit of Chopin's story. I was glad to see a game try to encourage musical enrichment. It offers secret dungeons later in the game and a New Game + feature after you've beaten it to replay the game with your party level (not character levels) in tact and a couple of secrets inaccessible the first play through. These features see an increase in difficulty of combat and a few more puzzles.

On the other hand, coming from someone who doesn't blink at, sometimes laughs at, the more mature content of many/most games, gamers who don't enjoy anything with mega-blok (it is spelled that way) edges may want to avoid this game. I meant the bit about being kid-friendly. The characters speak rather slowly and everything is overly dramatic. In the world of JRPG's that's just something that comes with the territory. You might enjoy it at times but roll your eyes at others. It is a very linear game. If you want something sandbox-like, this is not your game. Although I wouldn't call the game hard, the battles can sometimes prove a little challenging for experienced gamers, especially some of the bosses and more so in Encore mode (though nothing like the shock of Star Ocean's Gabriel Celeste or Ethereal Queen).

Now, story-wise I must say it's not so great. It's convoluted and kind of confusing. The characters are your basic cookie-cutter archetypes. You probably won't play for story unless the words "save the world" still do it for you or you are one of our younger or younger-hearted gamers (Which is fine, of course. Along with a lot of other users, I guess I'm just a little too jaded to be able to enjoy it as much).

If you've played Dark Cloud 1 or 2, the Star Ocean series, or Rogue Galaxy a few things might resonate with your memories of them (Though I honestly think I enjoyed all of those titles a little more than this.)

Ultimately, I enjoyed the game. It has a nice, innocent energy about it. The world and characters are pretty and colorful. The music is Chopin or Chopin inspired and sounds great with the option to listen from the camp menu. You get to learn a little bit about him. You can skip cut-scenes if you don't care about the story. It has replay value with Encore mode and extra little goodies. It lacks trophies on PS3 (though it also comes with a couple of characters not on the Xbox 360 version). It's not expensive. It's a cute JRPG. I didn't love it, but I did like it. If you've made it far enough to read this, try it. You've not got much to lose and you might enjoy it.

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Armored Core 4

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In general, a welcome addition to the AC series. Great graphics, the outgoing and incoming fire illuminates the surrounding (buildings, valleys..), the buildings can be damaged and in some cases destroyed an improvement to the old static ones.

The garage is different than the last ones schematics of pre-canned mechs, but they can be customized. The method is different, not good or bad, just will take some getting used to.

Primary Armor is new, electronic shielding device. I like it, you can hang in a firefight longer and it does regenerate. It doesn't make the game easier, you still get your kicked.

The controls are similar to the old ones (type A), shoulder weapons (like shotguns) are now available than can fire independently are handy for little stuff.

The story line is interesting, but I don't buy games for cut scenes.

I only have gotten to the 4th chapter of missons so far, a 4yr old that wants to play or stands in front of the TV cuts back on the quality gaming time. I also only have a standard TV using S-video, the game supports 720p.

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Armored Core 4 comes from a long line of mech action games. The simplest thing to say about Armored Core 4 is that if you liked previous Armored Core games, you will like Armored Core 4. Otherwise, the game is a mixed bag.

AC4 takes place in the distant future, placing you in the role of a lone mercenary fighting huge enemy forces with his "AC" mech the titular "Armored Cores". These mechs are humanoid in shape and carry weapons in their mechanical arms. If you've ever seen a "Gundam" episode, that's the basis they're working with think a robot that is basically just a giant person in shape.

The gameplay itself seems promising, but gets somewhat repetitive. The ACs have two weapons (one in each hand) that range from assault rifles to miniguns to rocket launchers to laser guns to laser swords. There are also shoulder-mounted weapons like missile launchers and decoy launchers to lure missiles away from you. Control uses a simple left-stick-moves right-stick-looks system, and it's fairly intuitive. The other main gameplay feature is the booster, which is basically a jetpack that can propel you upwards or rocket you forwards or sideways. The main failing of the controls is that they're not particularly balanced; things that should be connected in purpose are set far apart on the gamepad. For example, pressing L2 uses the boost, but pressing L1 switches your left-hand weapon, and pressing square fires the left-hand weapon. The controls don't seem natural even after you get used to them.

There are a variety of missions in single player mode with some decent gimmicks to set them apart, from "destroy all the enemies" to "get past the enemy's defenses and defeat their anti-air guns" to "drop into hostile territory and maneuver past anti-air guns to reach the targets on the ground". However, the difficult varies way too much from mission to mission some are just "destroy scattered enemies" with a generous time limit, while others in the same group of missions may have unreasonable time limits or throw you against entire walls of incoming fire. There are some battles against enemy ace pilots, and these are fairly interesting, but the other missions seem to boil down to "shoot all the enemies, who are shooting at you".

The other part of single player is customizing your AC with a wide variety of parts and weapons. Every single part of the frame can be upgraded with a variety of different pieces, from the head down to the legs. Each also carries different statistics, so you can build a thin, fast mech, or a bulky, heavy, high-defense mech. The numbers involved are probably enough to make most casual players shy away it's difficult to enjoy giant robot action when you have to wade through a sea of statistics to get to it. Besides parts, you can also customize your AC with a detailed set of colors almost every part can be individually colored, and there are two different methods of picking colors in addition to a pre-set palette. It's also possible to create your own emblems to apply to your mech on various locations.

The graphics in AC4 are decent, but not exceptional enough to be worth it while the game itself is fairly dated, it's still a PS3 game, and should be a little more impressive than this. Shooting things with missiles and guns feels like it should be more cinematic as it is, you're basically launching yellow ovals toward the enemy that make weak explosive impacts. The mechs are neat and there's a wide variety, but they're all basically geometric shapes that have been squashed together to make a humanoid shape. The buildings and environments are even more shapeless, with damage effects resembling something from the PS2.

The sound is even more generic than the graphics. The music is hardly worth mentioning it's just standard futuristic chimes and beeps, without any real independent merit. There's not much voice acting it's pretty much limited to your Mission Control operator and the voiceovers done for the cutscenes (which is only one guy).

As a whole, AC4 feels like it should be a lot cooler and more fun than it is. Unfortunately, the final product falls short of its ambitions, and feels kind of shallow. Online multiplayer allows for some potential fun, but since the game itself is kind of boring, it can only carry it so far. This game feels most like a 6/10 good effort, but not enough substance.

Written by James Shea

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While the ever-changing garage interface continues, which is kind of annoying, the game play and graphics are amazing (as expected). The controls have been much improved and are very smooth. The auto-targeting and auto-boost features are very useful and the "shields" do help you maintain a few extra battle minutes. Overall very good, I hope it's long enough though (haven't beaten it yet)

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The Armored Core series has long suffered gripes and complaints from most American reviewers for pretty much as long as the franchise has existed. It is, however, not a bad title. The thing about Armored Core is that it involves a lot of thinking. A large part of the game revolves around testing parts out, as you literally build a war robot out of hundreds of different parts to choose from, all of which offer varying stats, that leave it up to the pilot to figure out what suits his play style best, and what will help him out the most in missions.

Many people get turned off by the level of depth this game has, which often leads to confusion. Its not a bad title, you just have to be prepared to expect alot of trial and error. Satisfaction comes from completing the often infuriatingly difficult missions [which often turn out you were using the wrong mech setup the whole time] as well as making a very successful robot that trounces competition [other players] Despite poor reviews by those that misunderstand this game, I'll leave it to the fact that this franchise has survived 13 iterations and is still pulling strong, that this is a good franchise, just not for everyone.

Now onto Armored Core in and of itself. It is the most recent game released in America, and for those unsure about this series, this is probably the best one to get into, as by now they have addressed plenty faults from the earlier iterations. The earlier ones did indeed have troubling control layouts, but thankfully it fits just fine on the xbox controller. Anyone who has played Halo or Gears of War will have no trouble grasping the controls, just remember to map the boosting and firing controls to the triggers and not the buttons! The graphics in this game are the best so far, but are no where near as good as something like Mass Effect or Halo, suffering that typical muddy texture feel that most Japanese games seem to have. Music is rather nice in this game, it feels more epic than the techno beats of older games. Sound Effects aren't great but you'll forget them under huge amount of concentration you'll have during fights. The UI is a bit funny, but with some tinkering you'll understand it fine. As far as difficulty, this game can be maddeningly hard for newcomers, but overcome it and you can definitely say you've played a game.

In the end, this game is not for everyone, but don't bash it. Its good, you just have to have some patience and work that brain a little and have some fun, its giant robots with guns.

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It's everything you'd want from Armored Core. I certainly loved it. Parts, missions, online, and not to mention it's graphically awesome.

My one complaint is the lack of content. The game is short, though entertaining through it. However, the sequel, which is already on the way, will fix that.

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Playstation 3 320GB HW Bundle - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

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If you're looking to buy a Playstation 3 and Modern Warfare 3, then this bundle is a match made in Heaven. The stand-alone 320GB PS3 system retails for three hundred brand new, while MW3 is sixty. So it's like getting a free game, but that's where your benefits end. The console is your basic PS3 (not that that's a bad thing!) and the game is the standard edition. You still get one controller and no HDMI cable. And unlike last years PlayStation 3 160GB Call of Duty: Black Ops Bundle, there is no free map pack voucher. In fact, the only thing custom is the box!

Now in this product's defense, the other bundle PS3 320GB Uncharted 3 Bundle is no different and I have yet to find an aesthetically customized PS3, at least officially from Sony. The Playstation 3 is a great machine nonetheless, and I highly doubt you will be disappointed. Just know what you will be receiving if you spring for this bundle.

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I ordered this for my boyfriends birthday, and over nighted it to where I work.

It arrived in great condition, with everything the description says. Great price for game, controller and console.

When he saw it he was way excited.

The only thing that I recommend when you buy it is to make sure you have an HDMI cable for Smart TV's.

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Had my Playstation 3 40 GB for more than 4 1/2 year and it still works like a charm this very day, but always hated when I had to delete something just to fit something new in. I decided to get the new slim model, I was gonna get the uncharted model but then the MW3 was announced and I swore I would never buy a COD again but this deal was too good to pass up cause you practically get the game free.

PS3 Slim

A very nice upgrade from my fat model, I like the nice matte finish than the traditional glossy for both the casing and the controller it feel nice and just looks great aswell. I though it would be hard to transfer everything I had on my 40 GB to the new system but it was actually very simple and didn't take that long to get it setup to how I had my 40. The 320 GB it comes with is worry free, don't have to worry about running out of room anytime soon. I could not be happier with my slim model

MW3

A actually nice game so far, only played acouple of hours and can't complain for a game that was pretty much free to me lol. Game is nice, survival is probably my favorite part of the game but the other stuff is not too shabby either.

OVERALL

No regrets with my purchase, a nice upgrade from my fat model and runs smoothly even after long hours of play. Definate a five star, if you looking for a new PS3 and are in the need of a MW3 game then this is the console for you

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Just what I needed. Bundle met expectations. Love it . Would recommend it to anyone. 320gb more than enough. Cheers.

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This was an awesome deal, great game, and we are enjoying ourselves with this system. I would definitely recommend this site or product to anyone and everyone.

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Duke Nukem Forever

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Okay, those of you that know my review style know that I do my very best to give each game the benefit of the doubt as well as an honest opinion. This game will be no exception to that process!

Back in the day, Duke Nukem revolutionized the first-person shooter genre for its creativity, its graphics, its hardcore nature, and its overall fun-factor. Yet this game, does not revolutionize the genre in any way...in fact, it might be a small step back.

Now with that being said, it IS a good game, don't get me wrong, however after twelve or so years of build-up, delays, and anticipation, I'm simply warning everyone to not "get there hopes up too high," because the end result may end up leaving some disappointed.

I'm not going to give away any spoilers at all, I'm just going to delve into what people should already know, and that is that the very first level you start off on is, in fact, the one you play in the demo. Note: If you pre-ordered the game, you received a code to play the demo, not to mention it was available for play at various conventions. Now, some of you might be asking yourself, have the graphics improved from those that were available in the demo, and the answer is...No. To put it into comparison, the character modules of some of the monsters/characters looks similar to Fallout 3/Fallout: New Vegas. I can understand a game like that having lessened graphics because it is simply massive (for the lack of a better word). However this game, from what I can tell so far, is not nearly as massive and to be quite honest, there is no excuse for why some of the graphics even resemble Playstation 2-esque qualities. However, to be fair, when I get more playing time in with this game, I'll update my review on the length (level selection and so on) later.

Now, if there is one thing we all know, (or should know), it's that graphics don't make a game, no, what makes a game is whether or not it is FUN or not. Now, with that being said, I must say that this game does have its moments. For example, the humor is definitely there. Like I said, I'm not gonna give anything away, especially any of the jokes, but trust me, those oldschool "one-liners" are back and just as great/cheesy as they were back in the 90s. Also, remember playing the old Duke Nukem games back in the day, and being proud/rewarded when you found a secret? Well so far, those secret areas can still be found in this installment of the franchise (which is definitely a plus in my eyes). In addition, the developers also have chosen to add vehicles into the game, which has the potential to be a nice touch, however in my personal opinion, the camera-work/controls for such vehicle segments could use a bit of improvement, though aside from that, it's a great addition! Despite being (for the most part) linear, there is a surprising amount of exploration that can be had within this game, and for that, I am very happy. No, don't expect a massive world like Fallout 3 (sorry to keep namedropping that game ha-ha), or anything of that nature, but the developers did leave room for some exploring throughout the levels as I stated, which is nice, however back-tracking through levels (unless you count a chapter select) is not included in this exploration process.

Puzzles are back as well, and that feeling of "being lost" that retro-gamers once felt can now be re-experienced (which is either a good thing or bad thing, depending on your style of gameplay you prefer). As far as I'm concerned, puzzles such as these are alright, just as long as they don't become tedious and ultimately result in a thrown controller (as some gamers often resort to :P). The assortment of weapons is pretty great, however the only complaint I have in this department, is that you are only allowed to carry two weapons (unless somewhere further through the game this changes, and if so, like I said earlier, I will update this review). So you need to choose wisely as to which two weapons you wish to play through on various portions of the game before picking up/adding a new one. The lineup of enemies is pretty awesome as well, some of the classic favorites have returned, as well as various new ones.

Multiplayer? Well I'll fill this section in later once I give it a try, but for now, I just wanted to get this initial review out to you all (the public). However trust me, expect an update within the next couple of days. Be gentle though, I was trying to get this review out early so buyer's could get an honest opinion of the game.

So for now, my impressions stand as follows:

Graphics: 3/5

Sound: 4/5

Controls: 3.5/5

Multiplayer: 3.5/5

Fun: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

At the very least, a rental is in order, just to see if you like the game or not. It may not be for some, it might be for others, however at the very least, if you consider yourself a Duke fan, you owe it to the franchise (and yourself) to rent it and try it out. As for buying/purchasing it? Well...personally, I would say go ahead, however for the majority of gamer's out there, this one definitely needs to be tried out before spending your hard-earned dollars on it.

As I mentioned, I'll return shortly to update this review, but for now, be gentle! '

UPDATE 6/15: Alright, so I've had some more time with the game's single player campaign now, and I can say that my rating stays the same. Surprisingly, I still haven't beaten the game, which actually comes as a shock to me, since many reviews complain about the length of the game. So in my opinion (for what it's worth), I actually have no complaints about the length. The levels available are also quite nice so far, and I've found myself challenged with some of the puzzles that the level design has offered me. If by chance you get stuck, or don't know where to go/what to do, we are fortunate to live in an age where we have all the answers at our fingertips (the internet), so just look for a walkthrough on YouTube or whatever website that is convenient for you, though for the most part, I doubt you'll need to resort to such actions.

In all honesty though, I can still say this game offers a decent experience that may not outshine other games on the market, but it holds its ground. Obvious improvements could have been made though, and hopefully in the next one (assuming they make one), they'll be more mindful of their errors and not "rush into it;" which sounds odd being that it took twelve or so years to release this game in the state that its in now. I look forward to what the future holds for this franchise, and hopefully people will give this one a try: just don't go in with high expectations.

Update 6/16: Alright, I've spent yet even more time with the single-player campaign, and I just want to make a couple more notes. I noticed many reviews complain about the load times. Yes, they are persistent and somewhat of an annoyance. These load times not only occur between levels, but also after dying (for the most part, as certain deaths like driving a vehicle in a lake results in an instant respawn). True, this is a problem for most players, and hopefully in the next game (assuming they make one), they'll address this issue and really pull for quicker load-times. However, it is what it is, and there really isn't anything WE can do about it (aside from just choosing not to play the game at all :P).

Also, elaborating a bit on my mentioning of level exploration, I really consider it an absolute treat to walk around a level and take a gander at every single detail of the objects around an environment (I love doing that stuff). Little things that most people might overlook, like labels on foods, boxes, and other various objects throughout a level. I even noticed a fully-functional crossword puzzle on one of the objects within the (small spoiler) Duke Burger level. I'd strongly recommend taking the time to venture around and really take-in the environments that the developers have laid out for us, as you'd really be doing a disservice to yourself in not doing so. At least this proves that SOME thought went into the game. My favorite little "Easter egg" of sorts was going into one of the bathroom areas, and finding writing on the wall that said "867-5309." This is of course a song that was made in the 80s, and I couldn't help but grin when I discovered this. Anyway, I won't give away anymore, but these little secrets and things are definitely out there; ya just gotta' find them! :)

MULTIPLAYER:

Alright, as promised, here are my first impressions of the multiplayer of this game. First off, I love the selections of maps and so on that are made available, even one called "Hollywood" which is the opening level from Duke Nukem 3D (if you pay attention), except it's been turned into a slum; why they did this, I don't really know, but still, it's a fine addition. The weapon scheme is the same as in single player in that you can only carry a max of two weapons to switch off with. The weapons spawn out at various portions of the map, and it's up to you to make sure its safe and clear enough to grab one without being killed! I hosted a server for a while and played a few games, I also played on other people's servers and as far as I can tell, there has been no lag issues at all (keep in mind, this is from my own personal experience, and lag issues may vary from person-to-person). Anyway, perhaps the toughest part about the multiplayer (for me at least) is the aiming; which is also a concern in the single player as well and often feels like I'm having to "spray-and-pray." However if you're a seasoned first-person shooter player, this might not be an issue after getting use to how the game plays out/feels. Overall, the game modes are fairly enjoyable (especially a good ole round of "Capture the Babe" which is a spinoff of "Capture the Flag"), and as long as teamwork is everyone's concern, battles should make for some intense and entertaining moments! The only thing that turns me off is that there are no trophies/achievements for the multiplayer, only in-game unlockables. For some, this is perfect, but this was also the case for Uncharted 2 (well...aside from the 2 trophies it awarded you for simply trying multiplayer), and the reason why I never really got into that portion of that game; though that's another story entirely! However, if you aren't a trophy-hungry gamer like I am, and simply looking for a decent online multiplayer shooting experience, then sure, I'd recommend it. However, keep in mind, this is no CoD, Warhawk, Battlefield, MAG, or Resistance...this is Duke Nukem. Which reminds me, yes, just to clarify, the maximum player count for matches is 8 people. So if you're the type that loves to get involved in massive battles, then I suggest you give MAG a try. Though all-in-all, the multiplayer offered in this game is enjoyable, not great, not awesome, not spectacular, and not poor, not bad, and not terrible; just enjoyable.

So with all that being said, my scores remain the same (although I'll add a score for multiplayer now), and I would still strongly encourage (to anyone) at least giving this game a try at a friend's house, or a rent. Who knows, you may just find a gaming experience that you'll find quite entertaining, or you may not care for it at all, turn it in, and move on to the next game. Either way, these are all just MY opinions on the game, and whether we like it or not, Duke Nukem has returned!

I hope all of this helps. Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments! :)

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After years of thinking this game wasn't going to come out, if finally hit. This is the real sequel to the original Duke Nukem 3D, a terrific example of how great old school shooters really were. Sure, we had several console games, such as Duke Nukem: Zero Hour and Duke Nukem: Planet of the Babes, but this is the Duke Nukem the gaming community has waited for. The question is, does it make you hail to the king, or should Gearbox blow it out their... well, you get the point.

Before we go into a lot of details, people need to realize who Duke Nukem is. I know a lot of "professional journalist" have deemed this game insanely crude and offensive. It demonstrates sexist attitudes and Middle school jokes, some of which push it too far. Let's clear this up right now. Duke Nukem is a sexist. He's has the bio genetics of several macho men from the 80s and 90s that a lot of us grew up loving. He's the one man army Rambo character, and because of this, all of the ladies love him. He's a parody of the macho men. Women are dumb in the game. They're unable to save themselves. And in the Duke Nukem universe, they're all whores. This is all in the name of offensive parody, sure. So we need to keep this in mind to review this game properly.

The graphics are outdated, using an older version of the Unreal Engine. It looks very similar to another 3D Realms title known as Prey. It almost feels like it would have been just fine in 2007 or 2008. For the most part, at least the frame rate doesn't drop and is generally pretty steady. I kept hearing reports of this occurring, but for me, that was never the case. However, this isn't the ugliest game I've ever seen and is very playable if you're not a completely graphic nut. As goes for the sounds. They're cheesy, and the voice acting is 'meh', but this didn't concern me. It was liking playing through an interactive B-film.

Loading times in the game are horribly long. I had my notebook with me during the entire game because of the extremely long wait between levels. Even after a level is loaded, when you die, you have to reload back to the checkpoint. Fans of Call of Duty know that dying should be as easy as a 3-second wait and then you're back in the action. There was one boss fight that the loading screens became so annoying, I actually had to take a break so I wouldn't want to break the disc.

The story is the real cheese, but perfect for this universe. It's another 'aliens have landed' with the Duke Nukem twist: they have stolen all the defenseless women! So the United States calls upon this one man army to help destroy the wormhole that is stealing women and summoning pig cops and other insane alien scum. You'll go through different avenues of areas throughout the game, ranging from an outrageously fun burger joint to a more dark alien hive area.

One thing that really stands out is the way you can interact with the environment. Most shooters today are strictly shooting galleries with little (if any) interaction. Duke Nukem Forever manages to add a bit of this old flare back into the shooting. However, in this same category, you'll be a little disappointed if you're looking for a complete return to how the old shooters were. Most of the interactions are mini-games and a few odds and ends that you can mess with. It doesn't feel like they evolved interactions the way they could have done. Most multiplayer interactions are missing from the game. In older PC shooters such as Redneck Rampage even, you could play a bowling mini-game during a deathmatch. Where is this type of creativity for multiplayer? Maybe next time, Duke.

This is definitely a kick back to old school shooters, but it does have some newer features that is so anti-old school, it takes the nostalgia merit away from the game. For instance, the game has a two weapon carrying limit. This is nothing like games of our past. It really limits the fun during parts of the game when you have to decide between a shrink gun or a rapid-fire rocket launcher. Another thing that ruins part of the game is regenerating health. Shooters from the 90s (since this is what the game is trying to be) would have had a health pack system, and maybe an armor system. (Also, where is the use of a jetpack?).

The biggest disappointment is from the levels themselves. They're linear, and that's just not how games were done back in the golden days. They're not so direct there there's no way to navigate differently through a level, but the giant maze fields you went through in the past are gone. I'm hoping that Gearbox actually pays attention and returns the game back to it's roots even more next time. Hopefully in a more timely manner.

Multiplayer is a blast and is arena as arena gets. There's even ranks and different costumes you unlock through ranks. However, no weapon unlocks. Every player starts with a pistol and you pick up weapons laid throughout the map. The only problem I had with this is you have to hold down a button to pick up weapons. It would have made more since if they would have addressed this by just removing the two-weapon holding cap. However, it's great fun and very action oriented. There's even a throw back level from the original Duke Nukem 3D that makes you beg for more of the same.

My final thoughts are that while the game isn't near as good as the original 3D, it's at least fun and worth a shot. Gearbox's worst hit to the series was making this title $60. It's not really worthy of that price. But it's not the completely broken and offensive mess the "journalist" are making it out to be. It's a Duke Nukem game with some changed elements. Hopefully, Gearbox listens to the complaints of the gaming community (and not these so-called critics) to fix the issues found in this title to make the game much more like the original.

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In a world of "Call of Duty", "Battlefield", and "Halo", many old-school FPS franchises have been lost in the annals of time. Attempts to recapture old franchises' glory, such as "Doom 3" and "Quake 4", produce competent results that fall short of greatness, simply because they're unable to decide to appeal to modern gamers or their original fanbase. Now, after over a decade of inactivity in the genre, Duke Nukem is back in the playing field. And unlike his 90's brethren, the lovable blowhard knows exactly who he's trying to appeal to. "Duke Nukem Forever" is a throwback to a simpler time in games, and that's why I love it.

We meet Duke twelve years after annihilating an evil race of aliens from Earth, relaxing in a posh suite on the top floors of his own Vegas hotel and casino. Everybody is in a state of unease about a giant alien mothership docked above the city, but Duke is under strict orders to stand down because of the lack of actual hostile activity from the creatures. Standing down is something that he can't do, though, when the aliens break into his hotel and begin to abduct the women. "Not my babes, not in my town!", he exclaims, setting into motion his one-man assault on the hostile army. His journey will take him through fast food joints, destroyed city streets, alien hives, and Hoover Dam. In the end, he learns more about the hidden depths of who he really is.

Okay, that last part's a complete lie, which is a good thing. This game, which would be rather cliche and annoying if made with a straight face, is an over-the-top circus of cheesiness, and Duke is the ringmaster amongst all of the chaos. Instead of trying to make gamers take this game down like it's serious business, they sprinkle in a healthy amount of absurd humor, stemming mainly from Duke's inflated ego, making it less cheesy and more a genuine parody. While some may say this is sloppy design, this reviewer found it a refreshing break from the typically serious FPS games we get nowadays.

Which isn't to say Duke plays anything like those more straightfaced games. Much like the attitude prevalent throughout the whole affair, the gameplay is a strict adherence to 90's FPS conventions, almost to a fault. In between pumping enemies full of ammo from overpowered weapons, you'll solve simplistically irritating puzzles and engage in platforming sections that Duke's girth isn't exactly helpful with. Other critics think of this as some kind of downfall in the game's design, but it honestly isn't. To this critic, these supposed "downfalls" actually make the game more challenging, and more fun to play.

"Challenging" is a key word here, because it seems to pop up a lot in other reviews. Enemies being too hard to kill, or platforming sections being too frustrating. These should really be taken as invalid arguments. In today's day and age, games will handhold you through platforming and combat segments, and only make you do quick-time events to finish off massive bosses or clear huge ravines. The slaying of Chronos in "God of War III" comes to mind. But not this game. While there are a few quick-time sequences, the main brunt of the game overloads you with tough enemies and frustrating jumping segments that you alone have to conquer. It's a very 90's mentality, and one that's refreshing to see in a modern game.

Another thing that's very refreshing is the fact that the set designs are anything but typical. While the graphical "power" is admittedly rough and dated, the environments are all very interactive and inventive. Whether it's being atop Stratosphere Las Vegas while fending off aerial assaults, going through a fast food kitchen being only the size of your foot, or falling from an exploding Hoover Dam, there's a serious amount of originality present in these levels that it's forgivable if the graphics are less than stellar.

Also making up for the lack of amazing graphics is the intentionally ridiculous dialogue shared among characters. While some may have made claims of this game being "sexist", this writer begs to differ. Both men and women are made to look like complete dolts in "Forever", worshiping Duke like he's some sort of god come to Earth, and making remarks that only be described as airheaded, headstrong, and ignorant. Knowing that this is a comedy game, this is supposed to be taken much like the dialogue in an average episode of "South Park" or "Family Guy", and not like it's part of some intelligent narrative. Those expecting it to be are honestly expecting too much.

On the more human side of things, multiplayer is an absolute blast. Seemingly barebones at first, one creation of a match will open up a decent amount of options for you to experiment with. Maps are very fun and varied, with all of the personality and quirk present in the single player levels. Every weapon has a distinctive advantage and disadvantage, and as you play, you'll find what strategy works best for your style. Railguns are powerful, but fail at close range and slow to fire. Devastators fire off rockets at a machine gun pace, but are easy to misfire and kill yourself with. No one weapon is perfect, and that's what keeps matches from getting cheap or reliant on one weapon.

This game embraces what people loved about "Duke Nukem 3D" and perfects it. It never tries to compete with modern FPS juggernauts, with the exception of Duke only being able to hold two weapons, and for the most part maintains it's own identity. While that identity is the furthest thing from perfect, it certainly is different from what we've grown accustomed to today. Whether "Duke Nukem Forever" was worth the wait or not is really up to you, in the end, but coming from somebody who has anticipated this game since he was six years old, this game was worth the 100 shelled out on the Balls of Steel edition. With plenty of replay incentives that shouldn't be spoiled, and promises of plenty of DLC updates, this game isn't going anywhere for a while.

Welcome back, Duke.

Plot: B+ (Cheesy, funny, and nonsensical)

Graphics: B(What they lack in rendering power, they make up for with inventive levels)

Sound: A(Voice acting is pitch perfect, with Jon St John nailing Duke once again)

Gameplay: B+ (An excellent throwback to 90's conventions)

Overall: B+ (Not perfect, but boy, is it EVER a blast!)

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It's bad ass, cheesy, and looks like old duke 3D but with much better graphics and interface. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. It's excellent. Don't read into all the tools who don't like the game. Not sure what they were expecting! This is just as lewd and ridiculous as the original.

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I think ALOT of the people who are bashing this game are forgetting that this is a DUKE NUKEM game! Let me explain. In order for you to like this game, first and foremost, you HAVE TO BE a DUKE NUKEM FAN!!! If anyone is expecting a serious story which follows a 2011 storytelling format than this is not a game for you. Duke is about a larger than life hero with cheesy one liners who kicks ass, bangs girls, drinks beer and gives you the middle finger even as he's falling from a collapsing building after blowing up an alien mothership. Some critics think that the game let everyone down because it took 12 or 14 years to make, so in reality no game on any shelve will ever live up to a critics expectations after a very long hiatus. If they stopped making Modern Warefare games in 2011 and then made Modern Warefare 4 in 2025, it won't live up to any expectations no matter how F'N good the game is!

GRAPHICS: First of all, the graphics are not bad. They're not the best, but they're certainly not the worst. I think they are a very solid 4 out of 5 stars. They get the job done and that's what counts. I wasn't expecting the game to look like Uncharted 3 or Infamous 2. The Call of Duty/Modern Warefare games pretty much have the same graphics year after year after year and I haven't heard many people complaining. Graphics matter but they don't determine if a game is good or not (ex. Left 4 Dead 2 for XBox 360, poor graphics but a very good zombie game).

SOUND: I love the music and I love the dialogue. Especially, those shots at Halo and World of Warcraft. PRICELESS!!! 5 out 5 stars. Duke looks like Brock Lesnar except with a manly voice...St. Jon is PERFECT as DUKE!!!

CONTROLLER: Like any other game, you have to play it for a while to get the hang of it. 4 out of 5 stars.

GAMEPLAY: My fortee is fighting games (like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter) and I'm not really much of a first person shooter or RPG type of guy, but this game and God of War 3 made me reconsider RPG games. I really enjoy playing this game and the multiplayer is also TONS of FUN! Decent shooter. The game almost gets a 5 but my only complain is the loading time. I can wash and dry my clothes in the time it takes to load! 4 out of 5.

I personally recommend this game to ANYONE looking to play a game with an antihero that oozes the machisimo and charisma that a good ol' fashion 90's action hero could bring.

PEACE and HAIL TO THE KING HATERS!!!

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NBA 2K14

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $59.94
Today's Bonus: $0.05 Off

I'm probably one of 2K's more involved consumers. I check out the tweets, I follow the developer videos, I check out the YouTube commentators, the forums, the blogs (ie. Chris Smoove, Operation Shill, etc.). So I knew that 2K14's graphics would be relatively unchanged; I knew that the presentation was basically a blue version of 2K13; and that generally, PS3/360 would get the short end of the stick, with next-gen around the corner.

If you let the internet tell it, everybody should "just getz teh next-gen verzionz!!1!" (nevermind that $400-$500 device you need in order to play it). I'm not sure when I'll get a next-gen system, so for the foreseeable future, this was my only option for a 2014 basketball game.

I had been reluctant about purchasing this game at full price, but ultimately I decided to take a chance on the pre-release rumblings of how great 2K14 "feels". I'll admit that the defense has improved. So far, it seems both challenging and rewarding. You aren't helpless in the paint anymore, sticking to your man on drives seems to be easier, and the opponent's makes don't seem as cheap.

As for offense: having shooting/dribbling determined by stick pressure is pretty annoying. It's not impossible to get used to, but it makes dribbling less rewarding for me. I just want to break my man down, and not have to worry about whether I'll press too hard and launch a 30-footer. But on a positive note, I like that players seem to have a bit more "grip" to them. It doesn't feel as much like you're being yanked around by animations which, in turn, makes slashing more fun. Other than that, I really don't know what else to say about this game that hasn't been said about 2K13.

While it is an improvement, it's definitely not what I'd consider to be $60 worth of improvement. I understand now why 2K decided to not release a demo. And I'm sure they'll understand why I'm throwing this game on the used market in about 20 minutes. It feels more like a really good patch, than a fresh new product.

Unless you're a masochist, I recommend waiting on a 40% sale (at least), or just playing 2K13 with an updated roster. And this is coming from somebody who faithfully gets 2K on Day 1 and generally disagrees with people who say annual sports games "are the same every year."

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Immediately in the first minute of NBA 2K14 I noticed a huge difference, but not in graphics. I didn't expect to see big improvements in graphics but I expected the game to have improvements in look and feel through both the menu and the gameplay. I quickly found out that it wasn't the case. At least not for the menu. The gameplay had it's ups and downs that had me and my brother messing up on things we did with ease in 2K13. It was actually so bad that it took us a bit to get used to it. Funny how 8 games later we were still making dumb passes on the fast break after a steal because we are still very used to the 2K13 button layout.

Graphics: 4/5 The graphics are good don't get me wrong, but they didn't really improve over 2K13.

Performance: 5/5 The game has improved performance over 2K13 although it's not much it is an improvement.

Look & Feel: 4/5 The menu wasn't improved much, but the gameplay was so I can say it's better then average.

Controls: 3/5 This was 2K14's biggest flop. The controls were changed a little to much. Although they do have that familiar feel they're very much changed and kinda hard the get used to them after have been so adapted to NBA 2K13.

Improvements & Downfalls vs. 2K13:

This is in my opinion the biggest improvements and downfalls verses it's predecessor. Very much like PRO's and CON's.

Improvements vs. 2K13:

+ The look and feel for the game is an improvement. Not a big one but an improvement none the less.

+ The defense in this game is much improved over 2K13. Some would say it's a little to perfect.

+ The details on some players. Some players in 2K13 looked odd and that's been fixed for at least the ones that I've used so far.

+ The game mechanisms are improved to give it a more realistic feel. (Example: If you try to block on a pump fake and the person starts to drive while you're in the air, there will be a collision and both of you will fall. Blocking foul will be called.) That's just one of the many improvements made to make the game more realistic.

Downfalls vs. 2K13:

Controls are a big downfall for this game. After getting used to playing the last one the game is kinda hard to get used to. 2K13 was such an easy transition from 2K12 when it came to controls (Mainly because they didn't really change much.). This was such a big challenge for both me and my brother. It was so bad that we were still trying to hold L2 while shooting and passing by mistake after a steal on the fast break 8 games later.

The Realism some can say is a bit over the top, and can make it actually feel a bit more fake then real sometimes. Some of the things like the example I mentioned in the improvements for the game mechanisms can happen way to often which don't really happen that often in real life.

Defense is one of those things that is both an improvement and a downfall. How? "You ask." The defense can sometimes be argued to be way to perfect. In the first game I played with Brooklyn Nets vs Houston Rockets (against my brother). Blocks and steals were happening way to often. We ended up 69 to 71 as the final score with a combined total of 28 blocks and 32 steals. That's big numbers for blocks and steals.

Conclusion:

Overall: 4/5 I think the game is worth buying. For those of you that would rather wait and get it when the price drops I would say, SMART CHOICE. I say if you already have 2K13 and are thinking about it but don't really know, wait for the price drop is my best advice. For those of you that are still rocking 2K12 or lower then this will be a good improvement that's well worth getting. I hope you guys enjoy and thanks for reading.

Buy NBA 2K14 Now

This game is a HUGE improvement over NBA 2K13. The GAMEPLAY has been vastly improved. Contact in the paint is now incredibly realistic, defense is now just as important and effective as offense is, and most importantly there is no "cheesing"! No euro step cheese, no flying through people for dunks, no leaning layup animations that caused you to brick layups whenever you got contact in the paint, and no getting bailed out when making stupid passes. It's a strategic game now that is incredibly balanced. If you're a gameplay guy and recognize the importance of true simulation basketball then this is a must-buy.

As for the modes, I hear that they are mostly the same as 2K13, but I haven't played any modes myself. I have played a few quick games and games online and I can tell you that the gameplay is the best it's been on current gen.

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This game is awesome, music is great, gameplay is great, just an overall great game by 2k. I love it

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Lets get it out of the way, NBA 2k14 is basically a patched NBA 2k13 updated for the 2013-14 season. If you are just a casual basketball fan that just wants to play a quick game you are probably best served staying or buying 2k13( or if you're into the classic teams 2k11 for Jordan challenge, or 2k12 for the legends challenge).

With that out of the way, this is the best pure basketball simulation that has been released to date. In every sense it feels like the culmination of the 2k series on the court for this generation of consoles. Defense has been improved, especially inside. Contact in the paint feels a lot better than last year, and the new shot blocking system implemented feels great. There is no better feeling than chasing down a player on the fast break for a highlight block, 2k14 delivers this in spades. Controls have been changed for what feels like the 3rd or 4th year in a row. The right stick is now used for both dribble moves and shooting, with the L2 trigger being a new modifier for flashy passes. It takes a few games to get used to, especially if you played a lot of 2k13, but once you do you'll be pulling of crossovers, eurosteps, fadeaways and floaters in no time.

Graphically this is the same game we have gotten for the last few years, the presentation is essentially the same as last year as well. The only new mode is the Lebron challenge where you can play through the rest of Lebron's career, either staying with the Heat or taking your talents out of South Beach. I haven't put much time into this, but I imagine its a nice little alternate reality mode, and Lebron fans will love it.

So should you buy 2k14? I would say yes if you are a huge NBA fan and aren't planning on getting a next gen system at launch. This is the best pure basketball game made to date. If you haven't played a 2k game in years, by all means get this game. If you are planning on getting a PS4/XBox One you would probably be better off waiting for the next gen version(which by the recent trailer looks incredible). If you fall into the casual basketball fan category, you are probably better off saving some money and getting either last years version, or 2k11 or 2k12 for the legend modes(Only hardcore players will notice any substantial differences on the court, but they are there for those that are in the know). So with this release it is clear 2k's main focus was the next gen version, this is a "playing it safe" release in every sense, but honestly it was to be expected, this is the eighth 2k game on this generation of consoles and quite frankly we have seen worse thing from yearly sports titles, the fact that this is one of the best sports games on the market on old hardware gives them a pass imo.

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Skylanders Giants Starter Kit

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $39.99
Today's Bonus: 33% Off

The new Skylanders Giants starter pack did not disappoint. We seriously considered getting a Portal Owner's Pack, since we did have the portal from the original Skylanders game, but the Starter pack comes with TWO new Skylanders characters in addition to the one Giant Skylander that comes with the Portal Owner's Pack. Given that the Starter Pack was only $15 more than the Portal Owner's Pack, and the price of individual figures has risen to $14.99, getting a spare portal AND another figure made getting the Starter Pack a bargain!

Oddly, the portal is wired. The original PS3 portal is wireless. I guess we can still play if we run out of AA batteries, so that's nice, but unless the original portal breaks, I can't see using the wired portal much.

The Giant included, Tree Rex, is a lightcore figure. This means that when you put him on the portal, portions of the character light up. In this case, his eyes, and his Chlorophyll cannon. We haven't gotten any of the other Giant Skylanders yet, but so far, we REALLY like the new direction. Gameplay provides ways of getting through each adventure with or without a Giant in play. You can use your old Skylanders characters, and they can now level up past level 10, but you won't get credit for any of the series one characters in the collections awards/accolades, unless they are brand new. We had a fair number of series 1 characters, but the only one that registers as a collected character is the new Drill Sergeant Wal-Mart exclusive I had recently obtained (before the price increase) and had not played in the old game. He does register as a series one Skylander though.

Don't get me wrong, all the old characters bring all their old levels and powers in, and that can be a big help in playing (especially if you had a lot of gold built up), but they don't appear in the collections, if you switch hats, the old hats are no longer available (unless you go back to the original game), and a significant number of the accolades are related to buying new characters. Brilliant marketing device, but a touch annoying to parents.

One new portion of the game that I quite like is the addition of the Skystones games. In game, in addition to the rotating lock puzzles, there is now a strategic game involving tiles you accumulate as you play the game. The games against in-game characters gets harder over time, and in some cases you need to choose your tiles, as well as their placement, wisely in order to win. I like that the game is encouraging more thinking of children. Kudos for that!

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I bought the starter pack instead of the portal pack, because the kids didn't have cynder and jet-vac. So the portal was free when you add all the pieces together and I wanted a backup portal anyway. The new portal is USB powered only, the previous one was battery and wifi, which is better. No more battery or connection problem when the battery is low. The game graphic looks the same as spyro adventure, pretty rough. I was hoping for a higher resolution for the game. So minus one star.

The Giants eyes and other parts lights when placed on the portal. As for the gameplay, I can't say much, but the kids love it... for now... I remember when I bought them the spyro adventure last thanksgiving, they played on the weekend for about couple of weeks and then it sat there collecting dust till the Giants came along. Almost a year! What I am saying is that you don't have to buy all the skylanders giants or the skyalanders, watch and see if they really like it or not.

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My just got this for his birthday and he loves it. The coolest feature I think is that the individual figurines get there levels, gold, and weapons "transferred" to the figurine and you can play your character on other people's systems whether it be PS3, Wii, XBox, etc. Know that you only need one portal as this is only a one or two person game and multiple Skylanders can go on one portal. You should also look into Sidekicks and add on "weapons" as they are fun additions.

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One of the things I hated most about the original was that the Portal was wireless and took batteries. This one is USB powered. We would run into problems with the wireless one with the original because they would need changed in the middle of the game and lock the game up and cause us to lose our progress even after we changed the batteries. The design of all the characters in this version of the game look better than the originals. The Giants are huge and the one that came with this lights up when you put them on the portal. Very nicely done I think. The down fall is that Activision Inc. is charging more for all the new series 2 figures. The series 2 figures seem to go up to 150 max stats instead of 100 max stats. My kids all loved playing this game.

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We bought this game for our four year old this past Christmas. She is pretty technologically-advanced for her age, but had not mastered the Playstation controller yet. Thanks to this game and her extremely patient father, she can now enjoy videogames just like him. It is a huge hit, and only three months later, she is able to turn on the console, load the game, and play at least three levels with no help at all. It is a great bonding experience for her and her dad. They have a blast upgrading the characters and picking new ones to try out. We now have a respectable collection, and buying new characters is an easy gift opportunity or reward. It can be a bit of an investment in the long run, but worth it for what she's gaining. It is also encouraging her to read so that she can tell what she needs to do.

I highly recommend this game. It is a great concept for a game, the gameplay is challenging but not so much so that it gets discouraging and the characters are hilarious. I highly doubt you will regret getting this game!

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Sonic Generations

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $49.95
Sale Price: $14.96
Today's Bonus: 70% Off

It can hardly be argued that the past decade hasn't been very kind to Sega's blue Erinaceus mascot. For years now, the quality and direction of Sonic console games have ranged from... questionable, to put it politely, to downright terrible, to put it bluntly (His handheld titles have been consistently excellent, however). I grew up loving Sonic. His Genesis adventures were the first video games I ever played as a child, and my love and obsession for Sonic as a series continued from my toddler days throughout his stellar Dreamcast outings (I even devoured the comic series for years. Over a hundred issues are still at my parents' house). I'll be honest, Sonic Adventure 2 was the last Sonic game to hold my attention as a fan, and it was after that particular Dreamcast masterpiece that Sonic started to lose his unique way of doing "what Nintendon't" (Some argue Sonic Heroes was his last great game. I never played it myself, so I can't judge). It seemed that all was lost for Sonic, and with each lousy game his fans felt more and more disheartened and angry when dealing with the haters, more of which came out of the paneling with each crappy game.

First, a little history about Sonic's quality increasing in recent years, culminating in this disc of pure adrenaline inducing awesomeness:

Sonic Unleashed's daytime levels were a true success at retaining the past greatness of Sonic's unique, classical "fastest thing alive" approach to platforming, but overall Unleashed was an experience marred by horrendous Werehog nighttime levels that were slow and boring, the antithesis of what Sonic has always stood for. Then came Sonic 4 Ep. 1, which made even more progress to return to Sonic's 2-D roots and past glory, despite some missteps and questionable gameplay design choices (I'm a lot kinder here than a lot of 4's detractors). Sonic Colors was next, and was FINALLY a wholly stellar Modern Sonic title, of which there are few things to complain about; by far the best Sonic title in years, until now.

These three titles have set the table that Sonic Generations has come to, seen, and conquered. The fastest thing alive is back on his 20th anniversary, and to commemorate this most special occasion for their #1 mascot, Sega has invited not one, but two distinctly different Sonics to come celebrate. We are the guests of honor, and this is the best present a Sonic fan could have ever asked for. This is a long intro, I know, and this review will be a long one, but please, let me indulge the inner 4-year-old in me that would be obsessed with Sonic for years. This is the game Sonic fans have yearned for for over a decade. I will try to be as detailed as I can to give you an accurate picture of the game. Ok, here we go:

Story: Sonic and friends find themselves the target of an evil, malevolent force that threatens the universe and time itself! Amid the chaos, Sonic and Tails find themselves in some void, face to face with a chubby Sonic n' Tails from the past, from circa early-mid 1990's specifically. Both "Classic" and "Modern" Sonics team up and set off from this pure-white hub world to journey through their most memorable past exploits in order to attempt to right the wrongs and save everything they've ever known. Is it a great, ground-breaking story? No way, but it doesn't have to be. This is Sonic, and if Sonic and the Secret Rings or Sonic 06' (shudders) were games that tried to put a heavier story into the mix, I'll thank the chaos emeralds and chao that this title doesn't. The story merely gives context to the action and then steps back so the player can enjoy what you and I have always picked up Sonic the Hedgehog titles for: Excellent platforming gameplay at extreme speeds, cool style, and awesome music.

Let's talk about gameplay. I'm sure many of you out there were probably worried, first of all, about whether or not Sonic Team screwed up the gameplay/control mechanics of classic Sonic. Sonic 4 really changed the physics and control behavior from the classics and that really upset a lot of fans (not me so much, but many fans were peeved). You may confidently relax, because the classic Sonic gameplay is exactly the way it was on the Genesis. The game really rewards those who work hard to attain high speed and punishes those who are careless and slow on the uptake, just like in the good ol' days. The inertia is back, yes, the continued movement without constant d-pad pressure is back, and it is glorious. The only difference I can think of is that the classic Sonic levels here actually feel faster than the originals, and that the levels and proportions of everything ranging from platforms to loop-de-loops to spikes to enemies, seems... bigger. You may not feel that way, but I definitely did. There were also graphical tricks implemented that almost gives Classic Sonic a 2.5-D feel to them. So even though you're only running from left to right, you may hit a bounce spring that shoots you at an angled trajectory (think barrels from Donkey Kong Country Returns), or a sprint section may go through turns to the foreground to the background and everywhere else. Sonic 4 had similar tricks. These little touches really make the levels feel like living, organic worlds that Sonic is speeding through, despite the 2D "flatforming", and that is really rad.

Modern Sonic levels are characterized by maneuvering complex 3-D obstacle courses at speeds so fast, the music and outside sound literally distorts (I'm not kidding), making for an incredible effect. You have a boost function you can abuse to get Sonic up to speed again when you inevitably miss that 1/100000000th of a second you needed to react to miss a corner or ledge or enemy that stops you cold. You can even hold Sonic's boost button down to go at ultra fast speeds consistently over time. It's quite the rush, trust me. You can't abuse boost for long, however, as you need to take breathers, perform stylish moves, collect rings, or take down enemies to absorb more energy in order to replenish the boost bar. It's a nice balance. Modern Sonic gameplay really seems to push the envelope in every way, from speed level to set-piece epicness. It's all so over the top, and really captures that "HOLY CRAP!" feeling you and I probably first had when Sonic ran down that skyscraper or was chased by that killer whale in Sonic Adventure, OR the massive death truck chase from Sonic Adventure 2. Even the Modern Sonic reimaginings of classic levels have set piece moments like that, and that's really cool. Bravo Sega. I'm sorry for doubting you so much (but can you blame me?).

The presentation in this game, from the art design to its graphical presentation, is phenomenal and the definition of fan service. When I started up Sonic Generations, my brain fried a little from Nostalgia overload at the modern remix of Sonic 1's menu music and both Sonics waving their finger at me. I foamed at the mouth, a tear of pure joy and sunshine gathered in my eye, and my heart started beating in dubstep. It was... overwhelming, and probably not pretty but I make no apologies. When I started up Classic Sonic's Green Hill zone... well... gosh, this is going to be hard to describe... impossible actually, so I'll just say this and then let you discover the magic for yourselves: The graphical presentation of pretty much every Sonic level here is absolutely amazing. They all retain the spirit of their original appearances, while utilizing the power that today's consoles can afford the art design, and it is spectacular. That's no small feat! This applies to the age-old classics AND the more modern levels. I have less enthusiasm for levels from the "Post Sonic Adventure 2" section of Sonic canon, but this game's art design and gameplay mechanics are so great, I enjoyed them thoroughly too.

The classic music is enhanced, while harnessing that great ol' Genesis synthesized goodness, and the classic sound effects are all there. Same goes for the music/sound design for the modern iterations. It's quite amazing. It IS strange (and awesome) to hear "modern" versions of old tunes while playing as Modern Sonic, like Green Hill Zone from an actual rock band for instance, as opposed to the original synth stuff. One thing I *really* enjoyed were the awesome "classic Sonic" versions of newer "modern Sonic" songs. They're astoundingly awesome, seriously. Another really positive accolade for the sound is that much of the voice acting is actually tolerable now! You'll still stumble across some painfully cheesy stuff, but that's to be expected. To be mad at Sonic for campy cheesiness is like getting mad at Star Fox 64 for campy cheesiness. That would be crazy. Campiness is part of Sonic's "edge factor," so stop hating and let him cheese it up, I say. The excellent gameplay certainly affords him that right. It's definitely a vast improvement overall though.

There are levels from nine different games in Sonic's canon. That may seem paltry, but when you consider that each level has two different, and I meant very different, versions, one for classical Genesis Sonic gameplay, and one for Modern Unleashed/Colors Sonic gameplay, this is forgivable. This game has tons of replay value, as each level has several different ways to get from the beginning to the end-post/end-giant-ring. There's also tons of unlockables which not only drive the incentive for replay, but really are nice nods to Sega fans out there. This was nice. There ARE only four *true* boss fights in the entire game, however... yes, FOUR! This strikes me as odd, when you consider that the old Genesis titles literally had a boss fight after every stage. For a game trying to harness past success and design philosophy, such a small ratio of boss fights to stages seems very strange. I know a boss fight for every level is a bit much in today's age, but four still seems a bit anemic. At least they're incredibly epic, for the most part. There *are* three "rival fights" where you must battle past rivals in order to grab yourself a chaos emerald. One such rival is Metal Sonic, to give an example, and each of these rival battles are really fun and unique. I thoroughly enjoyed these cool segments. If you count these, then there are technically 7 boss fights, and that feels like a more adequate number.

"Long" review, I know, but if you're like me, you may feel a bit of trepidation about buying this game. Sonic has let us down so many times, and even though the handheld games were awesome, as well as Sonic Colors, the blue hedgehog still has an iffy reputation on console. Well, I can tell you now that, all things considered, this is an amazing game, period. It's an absolute masterpiece of a Sonic title. For years Sonic lost his way, and delivered experiences that felt NOTHING like the quintessential Sonic title. This is a return to the original, simple philosophy that Sonic always stood for: being the fastest thing alive. For that alone, this game deserves the highest recommendation. However, when you combine that with the incredible nostalgic experience this game offers, the outstanding production values and design (both in the visual and audio departments), and the absurd amount of fan service this game has to offer, purchasing this game becomes a no-brainer. Buy it, speed, dash, n' blast through it, and let yourself get lost in this celebratory sub-sonic bubble of retro Sonic glory.

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Sonic has fallen from grace and risen from the ashes more time than perhaps any video game character. Sonic Team graced us with two fantastic entries on the Dreamcast with Sonic Adventure 1&2, then burdened us with the mediocre Sonic Heroes and the god-awful Shadow the Hedgehog. Things were improved by the fantastic Sonic Rush titles, only to fall to the pits again with the notorious Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) and the middling Wii entries. However, a consistent pattern in likability reminiscent of Sonic's Genesis days has been taken up in recent years with the past two or three games. Sonic Generations continues this steady progression towards greatness, while simultaneously putting to bed something Sonic fans have begged for over the past decade: bringing back old-school Sonic gameplay.

The plot is simple enough, and voiced with perfection by the new voice cast Sega brought in with last year's excellent Sonic Colors. Sonic's friends get sucked into a sort of time vortex by an ominous enemy known as the Time Eater. In order to get them back and defeat the new villain, Sonic must travel back through some of his past adventures, teaming up with his younger (and more portly) self from the Genesis games. Nothing too deep, sure, but it's an excuse to travel back and see the best of Sonic's levels put into glorious HD.

And glorious is the best word to describe the makeover these levels have gotten. Sega didn't skimp on the budget this time around, obviously hellbent on making their mascot relevant again. Each level is filled with vibrant colors that suck you right into the cartoonish world that the blue hedgehog and company inhabit, making for a more immersive experience than past entries. This is the best-looking Sonic game in years, and the visual spectacle alone is worth the price of admission.

But looks aren't everything, which is why Sega didn't neglect the gameplay aspect of things. In order to tackle a Zone, a player must utilize both Modern and Classic Sonic in one Act each. Both Sonics control with an entirely different moveset that suits what area of the franchise they're representing.

Modern Sonic controls much like the ever-evolving character he's been since Sonic Adventure in 1999. Complete with sliding, griding, and homing attacks, this version of the hedgehog is an incredibly versatile character who seamlessly nails both 2D and 3D gameplay. This is the most refined gameplay to come out of the franchise in quite some time, and Sonic Team should be proud of the work which went into this part of the game.

What I didn't like so much, however, was Classic Sonic. I'm a sucker for the old Sonic games, I'll admit, but the inclusion of the retro controls in a new game feels done out of obligation and not out of genuine concern of whether it feels natural or not. It would be a bold-faced lie to say that these levels are bad, because they are, in fact, quite fun. It's a blast revisiting Genesis-era levels with the control scheme that they are made for, and seeing 3D levels done with 2D in mind is an interesting treat.

However, these levels never really reach the level of raw energy and speed exuded by the Modern Sonic levels. While I do acknowledge that the point of these stages was to capture the more steady pacing of the older titles, it made me want to actually play the old Sonic games instead of seeing their gameplay shoved into a new entry. Perhaps this will dispel the notion from people's heads that they want more Retro Sonic, and remind them that if the new Sonic has excellent gameplay, they won't need to sit around and wish for the "good old days" to return. Still, the notion of putting these levels in was still a nice gesture from Sega, and a good trip down memory lane for longtime fans.

Even with my gripes, Generations still stands as a great entry in the Sonic franchise, and brings together the best of both worlds from the hedgehog. Sega's commitment to restoring their flagship franchise to it's former glory is admirable, and is beginning to be what fans always wanted Sonic in 3D to be: fast, inventive, edgy, but most of all, fun. And at the end of the day, you can't find much fault in that.

Story: B+

Gameplay: B+

Graphics: A-

Sound: A-

Overall: B+

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Come on guys, sing it with me: "Sonic, he's got an attitude. Sonic, he's the fastest thing alive..."

Ahem. What were we talking about? Ah, yes, the review!

Sonic Generations. Just about brought me to tears. If you ever liked a Sonic game, from any era, you will be hard-pressed to dislike this game. Each level is based a zone from past Sonic games. Here, you can play either as "Classic Sonic" (as seen from 1991-1998), rolling through the levels in 2D side-scrolling fashion; or "Modern Sonic" (as seen from 1998 onwards), racing through the stages in 3D. One level from every major Sonic game is remade in Sonic Generations.

The fairly simple plot is concerned with the fact that during Sonic's 20th birthday, some dark creature crashes the party and takes away all of Sonic's friends. As Sonic chases after them, he finds they all have traveled through time. The mysterious being is some "Time Eater", wreaking havoc across history. To stop this threat, Modern Sonic teams up with his younger, "Classic" self.

The resulting game is fantastic. All of the levels and boss battles are beautifully rendered, featuring multiple pathways to the goal. Classic Sonic plays very closely to the way he played in the early 90s, and Modern Sonic plays like he did in Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors. The result is not only a great variety of level design, but also well-thought-out gameplay physics. And the music, oh, THE MUSIC! Sonic games are known for great soundtracks, and this is no exception. The remixes presented here are beautiful (Rooftop Run, how I love thee!). Classic Sonic features remixes in a early 90s techno style (in many ways mimicking the 16-bit limitations of the SEGA Genesis), while Modern Sonic features more layered, rock-inspired music(no, NOT Shadow The Hedgehog style. More in line with Sonic Unleashed).

Now as a gamer, I think this title is excellent. It is high-quality, fun, and light-hearted. As a Sonic fan, however, this game is nothing short of EPIC (even though the main story can be beaten in under ten hours. Shame)! There are so many homages to Sonic's history spread throughout this game. Not only are past titles referenced, but even (albeit in subtle ways) the classic TV show Sonic The Hedgehog The Complete Series and the comic book series are hinted at. The story is full of in-jokes known throughout the series and fandom. Plus, as you play, you unlock various bits of music from the past. These music tracks can then be selected to play during ANY LEVEL OF THE GAME! This just adds to the variety presented here.

This game, of course, is not perfect. Maybe 95% so, but like anything, it still leaves room for armchair quarterbacks to leave "helpful suggestions". Here's me being an armchair quarterback (and I don't even like football!).

Every once in a while, while traveling at high speed or transitioning to another portion of the stage, a momentary (read: fraction of a second) freeze of motion is seen. It is not common, but when it happens, it is noticeable.

On some occurences, slight framerate slowdown is apparent. Now, for me, growing up playing Sonic on the SEGA Genesis, where this was fairly common, playing "Sonic in slow-motion" was something I thought was awesome as a little kid, so even this has a tinge of nostalgia for me.

The story, like with Sonic Colors (being that the same writers worked on this title), is still very light-hearted. Nothing ----I repeat----nothing, is wrong with that. It was not terribly executed in Colors, and it was even more enjoyable here. The fact that this game's story ties directly to Sonic Colors just makes me smile with happiness (narrative continuity in a series Sonic title? Amazing!). I'm still holding out for an "epic" storyline like Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 featured.

The game, though detailed and fairly expansive, can be completed in under ten hours (story mode). To collect all of the little souvenirs and unlockable skills will take some more time, but all in all, this is a relatively short game. Again, I'm missing that Sonic Adventure series "epicness"!

In the end, I am blown away. Now, I've spent to much time here already----gotta get back to the game!

Happy 20th Birthday, Sonic!

Ryan Robledo

Author of the Aelnathan

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Sonic the Hedgehog was my first game ever, I loved all of the titles on the Genesis/Mega Drive, with that said I've also hated most of his 3D games with the exception of Colors and strictly the Day levels of Unleashed. Most of my resentment for the 3D games were the dumb characters they tacked on which typically played poorly or were given boring objectives. Then the attempts at a serious story with our favorite cartoon Hedgehog, it just didn't work (with the exception of Sonic: SatAM). Sonic 06 being the peak of awful rushed out the door trash combined with a awful serious story trying to move us with ...what's basically cartoon characters, buggy controls, horrible loading times and lots of other nasty things.

In the adventure titles the only levels I found I enjoyed were Sonic levels while even Tails and Knuckles got just dumb levels which was fairly irritating and half the characters I wanted to find the deepest portion of Chemical Plant Zone and die under a spring (I'm looking at you Shadow, Chip, Silver). It's not that I'm against Sonic going for a new route, or you know meeting new friends it's simply the controls weren't tight enough or the game was just buggy and awful (sonic 06) and probably the weakest gripe is my dislike for Heroes, because you just can't shut the characters up, 10th time through a level and they're still talking. And on the 'new friends' note, it'd be okay if they didn't make just dumb characters or characters that are taking the darker and edgier route, it's just unneeded.

Now that I've got my reasoning for hating past games out of the way, let's start why Generations isn't garbage and why it's getting a review. Tight controls, simple and fun storyline, great platforming, lots of things to do and unlock, fun to endlessly replay levels, cheesy little jokes referring to things fans have possibly wondered and the side characters play very little roles in the overall story. Now the thing that's interesting is you go through titles from the previous games now as I said, I loved the Gen titles and Adventure was okay and (day) Unleashed was fun and Colors was great, but this game also has levels from games I hated, however they are nothing like they were and are redone to be a blast to play. Best part is they really tried to get memorable parts from levels in to parts of the redone levels and they blended them in very well.

It was quite funny to tell my cousin that I enjoyed playing a level out of Sonic 06, because they clearly listened and made the levels to pay homage but more importantly be fun. If you haven't already figured out you play through the game with Modern Sonic who plays like Sonic Colors and Classic Sonic who plays like a mix between Sonic 2 and 3 (strictly 2D gameplay), they're both playable in all levels you just play as them in different 'acts'. Both play really well and tight which is the most important thing since it's a platforming title and all the levels have many routes to take...just like the classic titles.

-Modern Sonic gets the boost, homing and stomp attacks, rail grinding, and some level specific powers like wall hopping and ring dashing

-Classic Sonic gets little more than jump and spin dash, though you can unlock the fire/water/lightning shields from Sonic 3. Though this is a good thing because his gameplay remains true to what it was, no homing attacks, just 2D platforming and speed.

Basically what I'm trying to strain here in this review is that in the years of failure in Sonics 3D titles they got their act together and put out a game that's amazing. There's lots of side-missions, optional music to unlock, the game is simply pretty as it's ever going to get. If you missed Sonic, this is the game to get, there's no gimmicks, no stupid serious story, no playing as dumb unpolished characters.

Note: I am by no means saying all his 3D games are bad, I'm saying that I personally hated them, if you disagree feel free to however this is my thoughts on it. So keep that in mind.

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My Sonic fandom has been very sporadic ever since my first experiences with the series via Sonic 2. As cliche as it seems, I was borderline rabid in my fandom until about 2004, when the game-play began to lose my interest. It was not until Sonic Colors that I regained my support for the blue blur; I saw the birth of a new formula in game-play that was innovative and more than a step in the right direction with a great balance of speed and platforming. Enter Sonic Generations: the rebirth of my adamant love for the series. From the demo onward, I saw a video game that had (and at this point has) the potential to become one of the best platformers in this era of gaming. Upon playing this game, I found that my optimistic notions were wonderfully well-founded for a multitude of reasons.

Of all of my reasons for appreciating Sega's effort in making this game, the execution of both Sonics' play styles takes the forefront. Classic Sonic plays in a way that accurately, and enhances to a degree, the game-play per the Genesis iterations (1,2,3&K). When I say that it enhances the play experience, I am referring to the upgraded spin dash (which is far from overpowered -see Planet Wisp for details), which adds a whole new level of complexity to the timing required for speedy completion of the game's many platforming elements. Also, he pays more than enough homage to the Genesis era via the intricacies of his physics. When playing in Chemical Plant Zone, I tried to replicate one of the key speed-run tactics -jumping at the very end of its curved slopes. Performing this action in Sonic 2 allowed the player to run faster upon completing the jump. To my surprise, I managed to pull the act off exactly in the manner that I had done in Sonic 2. His noteworthy zones are Crisis City, Planet Wisp, and City Escape.

Moving on to modern Sonic, his game-play was just as phenomenal, if not slightly better than his endearingly chubby former self. The platforming elements are absolutely marvelous in his levels, and the utilization of his abilities is at its zenith thus far in the latter iterations of the series. Specifically, the boost is implemented incredibly well. While many reviewers have stated that it adds to the game's supposed clunky moments, they seem to have failed to grasp that moderation is a key component to mastering the boost. It may be very tempting to "boost to win," but that mind-set will come to a halt upon reaching Sky Sanctuary. Along with his other abilities, the boost works hand in hand to create a repertoire that a player must fully master to succeed. Sonic Team has found a formula that deviates from the linear platforming that plagues the previous 3d releases save for Colors. City Escape is an exemplar of this new open environment in that the player has countless paths on which he or she can travel. Not only are there a slew of routes -the environment permits exploration.

On the topic of storyline, it is far less deep than previous modern releases', but the game is better for it. The plot is short, sweet, and a great tribute to the highs and lows of his twenty years. Many members of the series's ever-expanding cast make appearances, but Sega has managed to curb their historically annoying natures.

The only issue I have with this game is actually the boss battles. I will not spoil their contents, but they do leave me hoping for further boss content via downloadable content. The quality of the fights is not the problem as much as the fact that there are only four bosses in the game. On a brighter note, the rival battles (essentially mini bosses) are brilliantly formulated; the Shadow fight was engaging enough to make me forget about his solo release from 2006.

All in all, I highly recommend this game to anyone wishing to experience the platforming genre at its finest. Fans of the series will appreciate the references to the Blue Blur's history. On the other hand, newcomers will acquaint themselves with the essence of Sonic the Hedgehog.

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