Showing posts with label ps3 video games release dates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ps3 video games release dates. Show all posts

FPS Freek

FPS Freek
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $11.99
Today's Bonus: 40% Off
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I have never written a review on Amazon...ever, and I buy stuff from here all of the time, but this product impressed me so much that I wanted to share my experience with you and recommend you give it a try.....so here we go. I ordered a set of the Vipr Black FPS Freek for my PS3. They arrived today and I placed one on my right analog stick, the one you aim with ;). It was a little awkward feeling at first because I wasn't used to having my thumb so high up, however when I tried moving the stick around a little before actually jumping into any gameplay it felt so smooth and drastically different. It took about half of a game of Hardcore TDM on MW2 to get fully used to using it. I always play on insane sensitivity (10) because I like the ability to turn faster, the FPS Freek helps to control the slower turns while still giving you the ability to spin like a tornado if you want to. After a few hours with it my accuracy has already gone up from 18.03% to 19.33% which may not seem that impressive to a casual gamer, but that is a huge leap in a FPS especially for such a short period of time. It feels like its built pretty solidly and its definitely comfortable, it was a little difficult to snap on at first just because the analog kept rolling and it would snap on crookedly. I gave my other one to my brother for him to use on his 360 as this product fits both the 360 and the PS3 controller. I am definitely looking forward to his feedback since we are both avid gamers. The Vipr Black color is nice, its just all black which matches my controller better than the white one which is why I bought it and it matches my brother's CoD controller as well. I seriously think this is the best peripheral I have ever bought for a game system other than a second controller. For the more than casual gamer that prefers to play FPS I would whole heartedly recommend this product especially when a $10 item can do so much for you and a friend or your second controller. I hope you found this review helpful, if you have any questions about my experiences with it I'd be glad to help out.

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First off I want to start off by saying my wife laughed at me when I told her that I was ordering thumb extensions. I know that's not what they are called but that is the easiest way to describe them. I got them in yesterday and I used them last night. They installed with no issues in under 30 seconds and are very secure on my controller. At first I thought that it was going to raise them to much, but as I started to play I realized they did nothing but improve my game play. I've only played Call of Duty: Black Ops with them and it improved everything from sniper use to the control of the M60. Great product. As a note. I have very small hands and I was worried about having to reach to far to use them and hand fatigue, but it's actually much more comfortable.

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Bad Company 2 is my game. I play it on xbox and I play it religiously. I though these were kind of funny at first and purchased it as more of a joke to show some friends, but now I love them.

By extending the stick height with FPS Freek there are two major bonuses as far as I can tell;

1. A larger field to move the stick over.

2. Easier movement of the stick. (allowing you to be more precise)

Though the pack comes with two I only use one on the right stick. I increased BC2's sensitivity slightly more than what it would be for the relative increase in stick height, meaning I had to grasp an increase in sensitivity. The slight difference in ease of stick movement makes it easy to grasp. It took an hour or two of game play and some fiddling with the sensitivity but in the end it was worth it.

I am a long time BC vet (PC 1942 to present console) so I was already doing pretty good. While an increase in precision has definitely helped, the noticeable difference for me has been in the close quarters firefights, ESPECIALLY when you find yourself passing someone on a corner or turning to shoot someone behind. The added sensitivity lets you turn exceptionally fast and as a result I am able to win a lot more of those occasional situations. It is almost comical when your opponent is slowly trying to face you while you are circle strafing him.

Even if you only increase the sensitivity relative to the added height you still gain a bonus by getting some more play on the outsides.

These aren't epic game changers, and they aren't a necessity to playing well, but the difference is noticeable and my kill/death ratio has improved as a result.

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This is my video review of the FPS Freeks by Kontrol Freek.

Sorry is video is kinda wierd. It's hard to make video under 100 megabytes. And upload takes 2 hours oh well. enjoy

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i have these for the xbox controller and when i take them off it feels like im holding a smaller controller. Absolutely helps with your aim now i snap onto enemies. i will never play without these

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Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $15.20
Today's Bonus: 24% Off
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I didn't really like the first Assassins Creed. Sure it was fun and had some good elements to it, but it got old very fast and the missions became more of the same monotony. Then with Assassins Creed 2, you could tell there was a marked improvement in almost every area. Brotherhood took what 2 did right and expanded further with the ability to control a group of assassins, making missions much more creative. Revelations doesn't add any new gameplay elements (unless you count bomb making, which wasn't really that important to the game), but it does continue a formula that works very well.

Being a huge history buff, i enjoyed getting to run around sixteenth century Constantinople, which is very accurately recreated. The plot, involving political intrigue among the Sultan's sons made for a good plot line, but it wasn't even the main plot line. Desmond's attempt to piece his brain together provided a very inception-y vibe. The six missions you get to play as Altair are also very cool, and give very good closure to the character. Revelations continued the dungeon exploration levels which were first introduced in 2, and they still work well here. The ending gave Ezio a very good sendoff, and the final moments have me very intrigued for the next title.

Overall: If you like open world action games with a good plot and gameplay, you will enjoy this...but I would recommend playing 2 and Brotherhood first as you may be a little confused about characters and plot in the beginning.

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I decided to do a multiplayer review since EVERYBODY typically only reviews the single player while only spending 3 or 4 sentences on the multiplayer component. I must say I became incredibly addicted to brotherhoods multiplayer as it offered a totally radically different experience from your typical FPS like COD or Battlefield. The revelations multiplayer only adds to the greatness. New game modes like deathmatch and artifact add an exhilarating new touch to your more typical game modes.

Deathmatch puts you in a very close, tight section of a map with NO compass. You are only given a picture of your target and it is up to you to do the rest.

Artifact is a basic Capture the Flag mode. Its works like this: Once you cross the "halfway" point of the map you will only be able to stun, thus you must constantly be on your toes in your attempt to get the flag/artifact and be weary of defenders hiding in crowds near the the flag or what not.

Customization plays an even bigger role. New characters can be customized endlessly with different types of weapons, belts, cloths, and you can even unlock gold weapons. You can also put emblems on the back of your cape.

The are 50 ranks, but unlike brotherhood where 50 is the level cap, you can now prestige. But get this...You don't lose anything! You keep unlocking more stuff, and here's the kicker...you can do this 99 times. And ubisoft says you still unlock stuff right up to prestige 99. Wow.

If you are looking for a fresh break and want some inject some strategy and "outwitting" into your gameplay, then pick up Revelations. You'll notice that most high standing game review sites like IGN, gamespot, and gameinformer, have knocked it. But there reviews where slanted toward single player and they had nothing but praise for the multiplayer component. Remember that the whole game must be taken into account when giving a review.

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This game was a rather large disappointment for me.

It felt like it should be a DLC for Brotherhood, in terms of length, depth and new features.

Abysmally short with a comparatively poor story and the upgrade/restoration features just weren't compelling unlike II and Brotherhood (You could only get 3 sets of armor in the campaign if you weren't focused on collecting all 100 memory fragments, the rest were pre-order and retail exclusives. The game also wasn't paced so that you unlock and can afford all the best gear by the last quarter).

It also seemed like they just tried to push it out as quick as possible to wrap up the story of Ezio/Altaïr so they could get on with focusing on Desmond.

Revelations seems to be the first blunder in the series and the first sequel worse than its predecessor.

AC1 was pretty good, AC2 was awesome, Brotherhood managed to improve slightly on AC2 and then Revelations just seemed so flimsy and cheap after the last two solid titles.

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I'm writing this review because I think the overall rating for "ASSASSIN'S CREED REVELATIONS" is a bit over-weighted on the high side. It's not a bad game, just not a great game hence my middle of the road 3-stars. Here's why:

PROS

Visuals: One of the main reasons I play video games is to be immersed in a wholly-created environment that I couldn't experience any other way. The "Assassin's Creed" series has always delivered on this level, and continues to do so in "Revelations". Walking around an early 1500's version of Constantinople (now Istanbul) filled with period detail is the major appeal of the game for me, and was reason enough to buy it. Ubisoft delivered.

Platforming: Another strength of the "Assassin's Creed" series, and again, well done. Climbing buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, ziplines, views from high promontories all fluid, all gorgeous. And taking out some of the guards along the way never seems to get old.

Gameplay: In large part, decent, i.e., reminiscent of previous titles but with some troubling additions and exceptions, which brings us to:

CONS

Gameplay Part II: Others have remarked about the slapdash and tedious nature of "Den Defense", and I have to agree. I dreaded having to play this "mini game" so much (and it's triggered any time your "notoriety" (now called "Templar Awareness") tends too high, which it does often, which is another "Con" I'll get to below) that I spent a disproportionate amount of time leveling up my assassin recruits to impervious Den Masters, in order to avoid having to experience it again.

Notoriety: In previous titles, "notoriety" was limited, manageable, and even fun. In "Revelations", it's irritating. Now, even renovating a shop (necessary to increase your income) will raise your notoriety level, making you scramble for ways to reduce it. Tearing down Wanted Posters is no longer an option. Instead, you must find one or two available Heralds to bribe which, as another 3-star reviewer noted, turns the process into renovate a shop, bribe a herald, renovate a shop, bribe a herald. Which gets old quickly.

The Revelations: While the main character (Ezio) story and gameplay is largely satisfying (and thankfully comprises the majority of the game), "Revelations", as the name implies, also allows you to play as Desmond and Altair, learning more about their backstory and/or fate. This is a good idea... just not entirely well executed or enjoyable. The Altair missions are okay, but more expository than filled with drama. The Desmond "memories" are worse, taking place in an under-designed "Portal Lite" universe which serve only to keep your fingers twitching while listening to narration.

In other words, many of the revelations in "Revelations" are not all that revelatory.

That said, if you can buy the game for around $20, I still think there's value there.

Finally, since I've played all 4 titles in the "Assassin's Creed" series, I'll take a moment to list them from (IMO) Best to Worst:

1. "ASSASSIN'S CREED II": The best of the series, IMO. The beginning of the Ezio storyline, with multiple locations (Florence, Venice, and others). Ubisoft worked the "kinks" out of AC1 and came up with a title beautifully balanced between Gameplay, Story, and Immersion.

2. "ASSASSIN'S CREED BROTHERHOOD": A close second, not the least reason being that it functions as a worthy extension of AC2. "Brotherhood" introduced the element of assassin recruits, a fun addition to gameplay that made Ezio feel even more powerful. Also, the setting is Renaissance Rome, and even though the ancient landmarks are already in ruins, it's a real kick to be able to climb all over things like the Colosseum.

3. "ASSASSIN'S CREED REVELATIONS": For all its flaws, the main storyline (and gameplay) are still decent, and the graphics are beautiful.

4. "ASSASSIN'S CREED": The original. While it's odd that the game that started such a blockbuster franchise is my least favorite of the series, there are some compelling reasons why. I'll give a minor and a major. The minor would be the lack of polish on the gameplay side, i.e., having to spend an inordinate amount of time "walking slowly" so as to avoid ticking off NPC's and getting into constant (and repetitive) fights. The major would be crashes. The game was constantly crashing on my brand new PS3, with the nadir being a hard freeze just before I could perform an assassination it had taken me a half hour to set up. That was it for me. I had to give up the game...

...but not the series, which has proven to be one of the best of this console generation.

Unfortunately, "Revelations" was a step backwards, IMO.

Maybe they'll get their "mojo" back with ACIII.

But this time I'll wait for the reviews!

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A lot of people are bashing the newest installment of Assassins Creed, I for one, love it. The hook-blade and bomb making add a little bit of freshness to the series. The bombs actually make it easier to stealthily get around if you use the, "cherry bomb" to distract some stagnant guards (as some of the completion % will rely heavily on NOT killing people) the, "rolling thunder" bomb makes a nice little mini-game in and of itself by having to blow off caps that have been placed on hiding wells.

Now granted I've not yet been able to beat the game, but I am a scour every corner type of player with kids and 80+ hours a week work schedule, but I'm at about a 75% completion and so far I've loved it. The leveling up of your assassin recruits is much easier this time around, despite having to level them to 15 instead of 10 as in Brotherhood. Once at level 15 you can assign a master assassin to a den to keep the Templars away, just keep in mind that performing 3 "Den Defense" is a requirement on the Assassins Guild list.

The historic areas you explore are grand, and you do learn some accurate, and inaccurate, information but it is all in fun. I've only played one of Desmonds "Black room" scenes, and it was confusing at first, (or I was half asleep) but got much easier once you got the hang of it.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Playing as Altiar is fun, seeing him go from young assassin to reclaiming his throne and seeing him as a family man gave more depth to the admittedly lack of depth-for-character in the first installment. Also, when you're playing as Altiar as an 86 year old man using the piece of Eden, seeing the "ghost" assassins dropping down for the kill as the Apple does its work throws some surprise in the mix for the Templars wanting it so badly

*End Spoiler Alert*

The 75% I've put into the game so far has been fun. Granted they could have added a few more puzzles or challenges, but to come up with a whole new game of this magnitude in a years time? Kudos, sirs, kudos.

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PS3 - Hardcore Gaming Series Controller Charger Station and Stand

PS3 - Hardcore Gaming Series Controller Charger Station and Stand
Customer Ratings: 5 stars
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $12.95
Today's Bonus: 57% Off
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I own four of thesse chargers. They charge the controllers fast and have a light to let you know when they are charging (red) that changes when the controller is fully charged (green). The accent light that changes color is pretty cool. You can switch it off if you don't like it, but I like it. Easy to connect the controller to and align usb ports. I've tried other chargers that were cheap and broke or almost impossible to plug in. I wouldn't consider using any other charger unless they developed an induction charger for the PS3 controller that was cheaper and engineered better than the current one that is on the market.

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Awesome stand. Changes colors and charges a ps3 controller. It is a smart charger so it doesn't keep trying to charge once full. Looks great and would recommend if you have a single controller like me.

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G155-Gaming and Entertainment Mobile System

G155-Gaming and Entertainment Mobile System
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $249.99
Sale Price: $235.98
Today's Bonus: 6% Off
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I had 3 options to play my Xbox at work...

Option 1: Capture Device/Laptop Screen-

This was desirable to me because it removed the need to buy an additional screen and haul around extra gear. So I looked to things like Easy Cap, Dazzle, and Hauppauge capture devices to play Xbox on my laptop screen. Unfortunately, using a capture card and viewing the game on a laptop screen experiences lag, and in the case of the Easy Cap and Dazzle, a 480p resolution. The clincher for me was the lag.

Option 2: Small 15 Inch HDTV-

This option seemed like the next best choice. I would need to buy a larger bag to take both the laptop, the Xbox, the HDTV and whatnot's to work. This option is definitely viable, but after the price of the bag and television I would end up paying close to what the G155 already costs, albeit less. Additionally, the Xbox wouldn't have felt as safe and setup and takedown of everything would have been more cumbersome.

Option 3: The Gaems G155 Mobile System-

This appeared like the best of the three options for me. In essence it was an HDTV within a container that seemed both organized and sturdy, so I ended up buying the G155.

**************************************************************************************************************************************

After purchasing and using the G155 here are a few areas of improvement for the device...

Dead Pixels-

As with many new screens there are a few dead pixels, but generally I don't notice them, although it's not ideal.

Loose Seam-

Sometimes the case comes loose at the middle, near the handle while I carry it. I feel that this would be solved if there was a latch mechanism installed there, like in a briefcase.

Carry Strap-

I wish I had a backpack or messenger bag that was large enough for the G155 unit to fit into. I'd like the actual case to be hidden from view and be more protected from scratches and scuffs. Also, a backpack's or messenger bag's carrying straps would be very nice as opposed to carrying a heavy load with just the current handle. I'm aware that Gaems has stated that you can attach your own strap to it and they might be making one of their own for the unit, however carrying the unit completely immersed in a bag would be ideal for me, although I haven't found a bag large enough for the unit to fit into.

Price-

I bought the G155 off Amazon at $270. If this unit sold for $200 or even $250 it would have been an easier purchase. I understand that they have to consider the bottom line and profits but a $200-250 unit would be more convincing for me as a consumer.

[Those are my only beefs with the G155 as of this writing. Unlike some owners, mine will be used extensively in the future, so we'll see how well it holds up for me over time. Hopefully it won't break down easily with a lot of use.]

**************************************************************************************************************************************

Now on to the things I love about the G155...

Xbox Stays Cool-

After hours of continuous gameplay my Xbox does not overheat at all within the G155.

Protective-

My Xbox feels much safer in the hard plastic case compared to carrying it around in a normal bag.

Compact/Organized-

All of my cords, controllers, and pretty much everything I need easily packs into one gaming environment. [Note: I bought a small CD sleeve to carry my game discs within the G155.]

Mobility-

I can leave my Xbox in the case and hook it up to my large TV at home without removing it, then just close it and take it to work when needed.

Screen-

The HD 720p screen is clear and gorgeous to look at and there is no lag whatsoever.

**************************************************************************************************************************************

In summary of my 3 mobile console gaming options...

Option 1: Capture Device/Laptop Screen-

I do not recommend this as a sole way to play consoles on the go. The lower resolution and lag times are not cool.

Option 2: Small 15 Inch HDTV-

Having done something similar to this in the past, it is definitely a viable option, based on if you're looking for something less expensive and your personal tastes.

Option 3: The Gaems G155 Mobile System-

This, I believe, is the best all-around option for mobile console gaming, or if you want an extra small television in your home where you can play Xbox or PlayStation. I'm very glad I purchased it and would recommend the Gaems G155.

Hope this helps perspective buyers.

[Update: I've now used the Gaems G155 for six months, and on a regular basis. It's held up great, and I've had no additional problems with it.]

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Our production company often travels for business and PSP, 3DS etc. is fine since hotel TVs tend to be older SD sets so I just got use to having to leave my favorite games like COD and Street fighter IV behind till I got home. We saw this screen running at E3 2011 and it was fantastic! I had mine on pre-order ever since we got back into the office and it just showed up today. Well built, holds my Xbox 360 pefectly, no overheating, it's great! I WAS looking at other HORI screens for around $250 but they just click on top of the system, they don't close up with into a case with a handle. This product is also great for those in the MLG and NEED to make sure they have an HD screen everywhere they go. I'll definately be keeping mine and using it for a long LONG time.... the only draw back is that the LED screen is a bit on the sharp side (hey GAEMS, please add sharpness control!) but it's still the best thing on the market.

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Pros

Console area has good (not great) secure protection.

Comes with all the cables needed for newer consoles

The screen is bright.

Two headphone outputs

Loud Speakers

locking latches

brightness control

PS3 controllers fit in the case.

thick nonslip rubber on bottom surfaces

Cons

plastic shell isn't tough enough for shipping/cargo holds

plastic bends and warps while holding it by the handle exposing interior.

not waterproof.

plastic shell needs a luggage strap for a more secure hold.

lock latches are plastic

LCD has very poor viewing angles

LCD is too sharp, this cannot be adjusted in the menu

xbox 360 controllers will not fit in the case.

Glossy screen finish

Notes

Never make the mistake of placing this unit upside with a console in it.

The screen will be fine but you could damage your consoles disc drive. =(

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I just received my unit yesterday, and I have been playing on it non-stop since it arrived (with a few hours of sleep). The detail/resolution of the screen is great, and there is no lag from the screen when I play online. Even my blue-ray movies on my PS3 look great! Also I have ever so thankful for the Hard plastic case. When I closed it up for the night, my dog knocked it off the small table I had it set on(I was soo mad!). When I opened it up I expected the worst, but absolutely nothing inside was damaged! My PS3 started right back up, and the screen was not cracked, not even a scratch, crack, or dent on the case.

I will definitely be more careful in the future (Bad Dog). Thank you GAEMS for making sure a great product!

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Well after watching almost every video review on youtube and reading articles all day i finally decided to make the jump and purchase this bad boy. i love it! this has been one of the best investments i've made in a while. i'm in the military and this is going to make deployments so much more bearable. i know it's pricey, it only displays 720p but in all honesty it's well worth it. if you have the money to burn and are looking for something convenient and something to keep that gamer in your life busy then buy this. my xbox 360 slim fits perfect and i've been playing skyrim on it for about 2 days and the graphics are amazing, great resolution. speakers aren't that great but i've got me some nice audio technicas that work perfectly. i'm sure the price will go down soon but i had to have this, seeing how deployment is coming soon.

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Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 - Playstation 3
Customer Ratings: 5 stars
List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $19.99
Today's Bonus: 50% Off
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First let me say that I am starting to like the intro's Ubi Soft is doing. Just like AC3, this game begins as a playable introduction (lead in) to the game

I will do a more thorough review after I have completed more of the game, but after 10+ hours (**update** 17+ hours), I really like this game. As stated in previous reviews, do not think that you are buying a SKYRIM game with guns. This game is not that. It is its own game, and qualifies for 5 starts under its own merit.

I enjoy the hunting and crafting in this game, as it is not to complicated. Find and craft. I like that. No need to find someone to train you to make better things. Just pick up the supplies and craft from the menu. Really LOVE THAT!

Killing is great in this game. Many different styles and approaches to take. Are you a silent hunter? Or are you a in your face killer. To me, I am both. Some quest have you take down the "leader" with a knife and some are just shoot them up. You decide how to go about it. I find a combination of both work, with plenty of health and green leaves in the bag. (To make more health shots)

I like the fact that you do not have to train on one weapon and that will be your focus for the rest of the game. I like being able to go from AK to sniper or sneaking around with the bow to take out a Tiger (Really hard by the way). All fun.

Only one down side that I have seen so far. The actual quest system. Currently there is no way to designate which quest you want to work on. The last one you pick up is the one that the map will show. I hope that this is because how early I am in the game, but thus far it seems that is the system. (Cause of this, I would drop it to 4.5 starts, but I rounded up) Not a game killer, but kind of annoying. **UPDATE** So far the quest system is getting more annoying. Once you "enter" an area with the main quest, it will lock you in to completing it. You are not allowed to leave the area or the game will reset you to your last auto save. So be careful on where you walk when doing side quest or roaming, as you may get locked into doing another part of the main quest. (Even with that annoyance, I am still leaving it a 5 stars. I am having that much fun with the game)

Other than that minor issue, if you like sandbox open world games, and like shooters, and like a challenge, and like good voice acting, and great story (so far) then this game is for you.

(I cant wait to get off work and get back to it)

Enjoy

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I love a good open world game, Skyrim, Fallout, GTA etc. This game is right up there with those. While those games featured rather bleak setting this game gives you a lush tropical archipelago to explore, There is no shortage of things to do and see. The best part of this game is its complete freedom and unpredictability. One time I was stalking an enemy base, plotting out the best way to attack it, I found a good sniping position, set up to take the shots, and BAM! out of nowhere I got attacked by a tiger out of the jungle! Me and the two friends watching me play the game all literally screamed "HOLY S***"! Never had so much fun losing a life on a game! Another example of the spontanaity this game provides? I took a boat out on the ocean to go deep sea treasure hunting. I dive down, grab the loot, easy enough, I'm swimming back to the surface, BOOM! Shark attacks me! Blood goes everywhere, he lets me go and swims away, I'm thinking ok good hes gone. He turns around and bolts back towards me, I turn and swim like mad towards a tiny rock outcropping, fingers missing buttons as i swim and then attempt to climb the rock. I slip down the rock back into the water, i go under and he bites me again! I manage to get on to the rock, quickly spin around and spray the water with my chaingun. The beast is dead and im down to next to zero health. It felt like I was playing the best jaws game ever! So there I am on this little rock with my boat close to me but still probably a 50 yard swim. I'm contemplating whether I want to attempt the swim to it or make the longer swim to land but go thru clearer shallower waters. Great Great random moment! Oh and if you think its all random animal attacks theres sooo much more. Theres also the constant threat of pirates, radio tower and enemy base takeovers, ancient ruin exploration, hunting expeditions, contract killing, racing, hang gliding, and oh yeah if thats not enough theres also the actual story missions! The world is so damn fun I've only done two of those so far, but both were excellent! Get this game and prepare to be sucked in for hours on end! Can not recommend this enough!

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Far Cry 3 is by far the best installment in the series so far. The sandbox style world is frankly amazing, the firefights intense, the strategy demanding, the challenge real and the story excellently balanced between disturbing and amusing. I am writing this review after having played through on the PS3.

The sandbox world has just about everything you could ask for. The only thing I can think of that is missing is an actual volcano, otherwise the two islands that make up this game's playable area are everything you'd expect on a tropical island. The addition of wildlife in this game adds such an aspect of realism, I found myself stalking a tiger just to watch him take down a deer or goat. This addition also adds a new type of terror/suspense to the game. There is nothing like quickly trying to escape a firefight that you plundered into, running through the jungle and finally escaping your assailants, just to be mauled and pummeled by a tiger. While the resilience and toughness of some of the animals detracts from realism, it certainly adds to the anxiety. And just like Far Cry 2, almost everything will burn in this game. The world also goes between stages of weather and transitions between night and day. Standard these days, but still a nice effect. 11/10 ;)

The firefights, especially towards the beginning are very intense. Until you unlock enough of the "skills" to boost your health bars and make body armor more effective, only a couple of bullets will drop you on the intermediate setting. However this is followed by most of the enemies being easily eliminated by a small string of fire to center mass. What is different for this game is the implementation of cover. While the system is a little rough around the edges, it does allow you to hide behind cover and then peek out and fire rounds off at hostiles. 9.5/10

Unlike Far Cry 2, where it seemed impossible to use stealth. This game makes it a requirement in some missions, and is highly encouraged in others. Targets are capable of being marked prior to walking into an area, while it feels like cheating most the time, it does make using stealth a must more attractive option. To add to the push for using stealth, there are a plethora of different knife skills that can be unlocked. Each of these having its own unique "kill sequence", and some allowing you to silently remove more than one enemy, and the most useful to me; one that allows you to drag a recently parted victim's body to a discrete area. 10/10

The challenge in this game comes mostly from the improved use of enemy AI. While they are still not brilliant, they do notice sounds and are spooked by finding their buddy lying dead on the ground. The enemy itself will work together to suppress and kill you, as well as take cover to hide from your fire. The confrontations with some of the islands predators is also challenging, as well as occasionally terrifying, though the idea of a shark attack bothers me anyways. The enemies are also specialized, making some of them quite difficult to kill and makes plotting strikes against enemy establishments require careful and thorough planning. 9/10

The story, while touching on absurd in portions and stretches in other parts, is over all very entertaining. Quite frankly it is well written, much like any of the older Bond movies but with much more violence. There are amusing small quips and one liners spread throughout the interactions of the main character and the NPC's. Some of the situations you find yourself in are brilliant, but in an absurd sort of way. Expect to find yourself going down in a sinking ship, or being dropped into a deep spring, hands bound and tied to a concrete block. The story arc overall is fair to good, I would rate it at 7.5/10.

The game overall is worth every penny just for the single player. The addition to weapon customizations and the improved system controls, should also make this an interesting and likely worthy multiplayer. This game has a few small quirks, and no one should expect a Shakespeare story, but you should expect hours of thrills and plenty of enjoyment. There is one side note I wish to finish with, this game is especially violent and is likely not suitable for your 11 year old. It is brutal and graphic in many of the missions and in much of the game's surrounding environment. There are also scenes (while only a few) that border on soft core pornography, while I do not mind this myself, it is quite graphic. Don't let this deter you from playing, but do let this guide you if you think you might be buying this for your child. Overall 9.8/10

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I mainly wanted this game because I read that it has offline co-op and my husband and I enjoyed playing games such as Borderlands (1 & 2) and Left 4 Dead (1 & 2) together. So I'll split the review between offline co-op and single player.

We tried the offline co-op first and there were a couple of things we were both frustrated by in co-op. The first night we started playing, we found out that we have to play through a whole chapter (consisting of 4 or 5 parts) in one playthrough. It doesn't save your game anywhere in the middle of the chapter. So imagine our surprise when we got hungry, stopped the game, and came back after eating to find that all the progress we made in the chapter was gone and we had to play through the whole thing again.

Since there was no save, the characters and weapons do not level. I'm not sure if it's different in online co-op. But we're stuck using the same weapons and our characters remain fairly weak even after five, six chapters. Two or three shots will kill and since there's no leveling, the bosses get tough to beat. And worst of all, there are these attack dogs that'll get you and there's basically no way of surviving the attack (even though prompts come up for button smashing) if your partner is not there to shoot it off of you. It reminded us of the Left 4 Dead games where you just play the same-ish characters through these chapters. You don't level and you don't get better weapons. And towards the end, there's a swarm of enemies and some boss that you'll need to somehow survive.

The good is that the revive time is really long so there's usually some way to save your partner. But that and the fun of playing with my husband are really about all that's good with the offline co-op.

Since the co-op was a bit disappointing for us, I decided to try out the single player since, from descriptions, it seems like a totally different game than the co-op. And I am glad I tried it and I'm a huge fan of the single-player.

To me, the single player reminds me a lot of the Assassin's Creed games. You're given a map that's blurred and the blurred areas reveal themselves after you capture radio towers. There are treasure chests to loot and you can buy maps that reveal the treasure chests. Then obviously, you buy weapons and other upgrades with your loot. There are also forts to capture and, once you do, the good guys control the area. Just like Assassin's Creed.

The island environment is lush and beautiful and I greatly enjoy running around the island even when I'm not sniping someone. So far, I haven't had any major glitches or graphics issues and I thought the game sounds and looks great.

The hunting part I could have done without. After Red Dead Redemption, I really didn't want to play another game where I have to skin animals while accompanied by squishy sound effects. Sadly, it's actually pretty important to kill and skin animals in order to upgrade backpacks and holsters. Honestly, in all that killing and looting, the character couldn't have gotten a larger weapons holster off of those pirates?

And speaking of pirates, I'm going to go off on a tangent here: I thought the story logic was shoddy. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the plot of games, but it seems like in this game, the protagonist and his friends were captured by pirates while vacationing and now they're on this island caught between the pirates and the natives. The natives are willing to help and there are working radio towers on this island. Yet no one ever thought of calling some sort of authority? Notifying the U.S. embassy? I mean, it's not just one or two tourists lost on this island. From the opening, it seems like the pirates have 30+ kidnapped tourists. From the abandoned suitcases everywhere, it seems like the island has a rich history of lost tourists. Yet no one calls any sort of authority in this matter? I really had to suspend belief every time the main character goes on about how he needs to save his friends...by himself. Anyways!

Probably the only major con about the single player (asides from poor logic) is the horrible weapons wheel thing. It feels like the intuitive thing to do is to switch weapons with the d-pad. But nope. You first have to equip weapons in the weapons wheel and then you can only switch between two guns without going back into the weapons wheel, even if you have four weapons equipped. So I basically only use an assault rifle and a sniper rifle even though I really want to try the bow and arrow and a pistol. But since switching between weapons is such a hassle, I don't.

In the end, I thought the single player was so much fun that I can't see why the developers didn't just make offline co-op exactly like the single player except with, you know, two players. In short, I wish it was more Borderlands than Left 4 Dead. So overall, the game's great and I can't wait to play more of it. But I'm taking a star off for the subpar offline co-op, the animal skinning, and the horrible weapons wheel.

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This is a great game in terms of gameplay, graphics and all the things you are able to do in the game like hunting and taking over outposts, so there's that. Then there is the story and characters of the game, this is where it's not so great. After putting in over 30 hours into this game i can't help but feel disappointed by it. What we know is that a bunch of friends go skydiving and land on rook island, and from there get kidnapped by the pirates on the island. You and your brother try to escape from Vaas and your brother ends up getting killed, you get killed and get rescued by Dennis and from there you make it your main mission to rescue your friends.

One problem is that your friends and girlfriend are never developed and we know nothing about them other then their descriptions, names and some of them are whiny and douchy. A bigger problem is that Jason is a very unlikable character and has no chemistry with his girlfriend or friends which makes me wonder again why he even needs or wants to save his friends, considering that and he already decided he wants to stay on the island to discover himself.

As you play on we finally get to the ending and it's disappointing to say the least. Citra or the rakyat kidnap your friends once again and you fly to the temple with Riley and get to make a choice either stay with citra or save your friends. If you stay with citra you get a terrible ending which involves killing your brother and friends which makes absolutely no sense because you spent the whole game trying to save them, and then bang Citra and she kills you. If you save your friends Dennis accidentally kills Citra trying to kill you and you leave with your friends. One thin that bothered me with the ending is that Jason already decided to stay on the island earlier in the game so i thought the ending choice was unnecessary. The writers shouldn't have had Jason decide to stay that early in the story and just wait until the end, the whole killing your friends ruined the story. Originally i would have rated this game a 9/10 but then after seeing the ending and the bad characters i would probably now rate this a 7 or 6 out of ten.

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Fuse

Fuse
Customer Ratings: 4 stars
List Price: $59.99
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This review is for the campaign, and I will be the first to admit, this is a DNF (Did Not Finish) for me. I just couldn't bring myself to complete this game. It felt like work. It just wasn't fun, and I felt like I was punishing myself to continue playing it just for the sake of completing it. So why am I reviewing this game, if I didn't finish it? To hopefully spare you from blowing your hard earned $60 on it. Fans of Insomniac should steer clear of this one and wait for the next "Ratchet" or "Resistance".

As the title states, "Fuse" does not feel like a game by Insomniac, which is one of my favorite developers of all time (I'm a huge fan of "Ratchet", "Resistance", and "Spyro"). It does cover-based stop and pop gunplay, climbing/platforming, and "witty" dialogue... just like "Uncharted" and countless other games. But unlike "Uncharted", everything just feels "off" in "Fuse", and slogging through its mundane, military campaign was generally painful.

Prior to this game's release, if you were to have told me that Insomniac was going to release a title that wasn't fun to play and that didn't have a good story, I would not have believed you. "Fuse" has made me a believera believer that even Insomniac can drop the ball. This should be a warning to all developers that if you're going to try to duplicate the success of "Uncharted" and "Gears", you had better get your formula to a level where it can stand side by side with those games. This game feels like it was developed by some fly-by-night rookie developer on a shoestring budget, with a plot cooked up by teenage boys.

Everyone is allowed to make mistakes, including heavyweights like Insomniac. I still root for them every day, and I just hope that this kind of tough guy nonsense is not the the new direction of the developer that brought us the wonderful universes of Spyro, Ratchet, and Nathan Hale.

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Looks great, plays great, too short. I feel cheated, and I'm not waiting around for DLC to make it longer.

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Bought it to play co-op with a friend. We got exactly what we expected, which is okay. Game was really short though. If anything that is my main gripe. The main idea of buying upgrades doesn't really work as well as you'd think, since it's all the same stuff across characters. The gameplay didn't do anything new or exciting, except that each character had a special-mechanic gun.

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Fuse provides an interesting mix of good and bad. It is clearly Insomniac making use of a lot of the code from the Resistance series:

Things that crawl on the ground and then jump at you (Leapers) check

Occasional super-armored enemies with a weak spot on their back (Stalkers) check

Unstable, explosive orbs stacked in threes that you can shoot and cause explosions (Power Orbs) check

Other-world-tech powered weapons check

Enemies that expand on the definition of 'bullet sponge' check

Enemies behind mounted turrets that seem to hit you the second you stick your foot in the open check

Power cores that you have to shoot out to take something down (like at the end of Resistance) check

Enemies that can turn nearly invisible check

As a single person game this ranks as pretty good. The aiming seems a little awkward. It's annoying that no matter what is happening your character runs at one speed when you're controlling them. Regardless of how much urgency you feel to get to cover, your character can't be made to respond accordingly. Your other 3 companions (who you can switch to at any time) are sometimes decent in helping to take out the swarms of enemies, and other times they are strangely incapable of hitting enemies right out in the open. This is especially annoying when you flank the soldiers with riot shields so that the other 3 characters have a free shot at them and somehow none of the soldiers are taken out.

The campaign is enjoyable in terms of giving you plenty of targets to shoot at, but having to sink 15-25 shots in common soldiers gets old pretty quick. It's amazing that all this cool Fuse-enhanced weaponry can't do more damage. The weapons have some neat effects--Izzy's gun can encase enemies in melanite (a crystal-like substance) giving you the chance to shatter them into pieces before they get out, but you still have to hit an enemy with at least a dozen shots to encase them. Dalton's shield protects you from most weapons and can reflect damage back on enemies--but they have to be relatively close for that damage to be enacted. Jacob's crossbow has the most immediate effect on target--often just 2 shots will take down most soldiers. Alternatively, you can fire a couple of shots into an area (hitting either enemies or nearby walls, where they 'stick') and then detonate them causing some fiery deaths--but the crossbow doesn't hold that many rounds so you'll spend as much time looking for ammo in the middle of a fight as you will actually fighting. Naya's gun can cause enemies to implode into a black hole/singularity--this is by far my favorite weapon in the game. The nice thing is that you can tag multiple enemies with several shots and then finish one enemy off and the implosion will often chain to the other tagged enemies. The downside is that, like Izzy's melanite gun, you'll have to hit a target at least a dozen times in order to get this effect.

This bullet-sponge tendency for enemies (which started with Resistance and seems to be something Insomniac keeps making worse) is extremely annoying. All this new-space-tech-infused weaponry and it can't take out a riot shield? A common foot soldier takes a dozen or more rounds to take down--that's a little difficult to believe. Izzy's gun, it should be noted, is actually effective against riot shields--again you have to sink 15-20 shots into the riot shield to get it to work, but it does work. It's even worse when you switch to the normal weapons like the Savager or Daybreaker, which are essentially rifles with normal bullets, where you'll routinely have to sink about 20 shots into a soldier to kill him. I would much rather have twice the number of enemies then to have fewer enemies that I'm pelting with an absurd amount of ammo to take down.

As a multi-player game it works a little better as your co-players can perform with more intelligence than the AI that the other 3 characters have when you're on single-player mode. If everyone effectively learns the strengths of their characters it can be a fun time efficiently dispatching enemies.

Of course there are some crazy annoyances, whether single or multi-player--the Leadfoot and Leadfire (and a few other enemies) that are encased in armor that seems resistant to everything have to be taken down by hitting the tank on their back. Just like the Stalkers in Resistance, it's not just hitting the weak spot on the back that's the challenge, it's having to hit it several dozen times. More bullet-sponge, more annoyance. The Enforcer is another overly-armored enemy, but its weak spot is in the front, but only exposed when it performs certain actions. This creates another opportunity to frustratingly blow through a great deal of ammo to get very little result. You can take down an Enforcer by continually hitting them even when the weak spot is not exposed, but you're chewing up a ridiculous amount of ammo this way.

As you advance your characters their weapons gain new abilities--Naya can turn invisible, Izzy can throw med-beacons that heal you when you're down, but gaining XP to do this is a little slow. Much worse is gaining 'Fuse Credits' to apply towards team perks. Team perks are things like Faster revive time for fallen teammates, increased health, gain XP or Fuse Credits faster, do more damage to Fuse shields, etc. Each character can have 1 active team perk at any given time. In campaign mode, however, Fuse Credits can not be acquired quickly enough to make these relevant. You can always go back and play the first level over and over again, it's the easiest to get through and has a decent amount of Fuse Credits to be had with the smallest effort--but that gets old.

You can always play in 'Echelon' mode, which is basically a horde mode where huge waves of enemies come at you. XP and Fuse Credits can be earned at a faster pace in this mode. This is something that's more worth doing as a team because the volume of enemies easily overwhelms the AI of the other 3 characters and you're bailing them out quite a bit if you're on your own.

Overall, this isn't the worst game out there. It's enjoyable in the way a summer action movie is, fun, but nothing you're expecting to see nominated for film of the year. The environments are decent, nothing especially awe-inspiring (unlike many of the scenes in Resistance 2, which were just incredible), but they are littered with plenty of ammo to re-stock your weapons, and plenty of cover to take on the enemies. The ending of the game certainly sets up the likelihood of Fuse 2, in which I'm sure Insomniac will make enemies who never die no matter how much you shoot them, because that's really the only place they have left to go.

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I spend the bulk of my gaming time playing co-op with friends. When we played Ghost Recon Future Soldier (fffffuuuuuu, 30K), we got away with playing just three of us. I highly recommend you play with the max 4 man squad for this game. Even on normal difficulty there were times when we were really challenged.

The game itself is a lot of fun, and I definitely recommend it. The skill tree for each class is pretty linear, but getting team perks adds to that dynamic.

Both the main story line and the optional fight-wave-after-wave-of-enemies was a lot of fun, and the latter provides you with cash to unlock the team perks.

To sum up, great game but I would not want to play with the AI controlled squad mates

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Risen 2: Dark Waters - Complete Package (Special Edition)

Risen 2: Dark Waters - Complete Package - Playstation 3
Customer Ratings: 3.5 stars
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Like others, I read all the horrible reviews out there for Risen 2 and almost didn't give it a chance. Turns out though that I'm happy I did as I really enjoyed playing through this game from beginning to end, despite some of the game's more noticeable flaws.

It doesn't surprise me that this game got panned by professional review sites as well as many modern gamers. The graphics are dated (at least on PS3 they are), there's texture tearing and pop-up, and some major drops in the frame rate when large enemies are on screen. Modern day videogame luxuries such as quest markers and frequent pop-up hints and instructions are absent. The learning curve is somewhat steep as you start out with very little guidance and your character is ill-equipped and weak, and it's not uncommon to get your butt kicked by even a measly sand devil (the goombas of the Risen 2 world), particularly if they outnumber you. Combat is clunky and your strategic options are initially very, very limited. I can admit that there were a few moments in the first 2-3 hours of playtime where I considered quitting because it seemed like a mess of a game.

But I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. Despite its technical problems, I found that Risen 2 has a lot to offer than other games do not.

Foremost is the satisfaction that comes with playing a game that comes with so little of the modern handholding we've become accustomed to as gamers. There's no flowery 20 minute cinematic to kick off the game, followed by a 20 minute in-game tutorial that gradually introduces you to your move-set and onscreen HUD. You get a brief narration and then a short conversation and then you're in complete control of your character from then on. What you do at that point is up to you. You're told by an NPC to meet the Commandant on the fortress wall. There's no "quest marker" that constantly floats on your HUD to guide you to where the battlements are and there's no minimap. You have to explore the fortress and the grounds and learn the layout and where things and people are yourself. You don't even get a map to begin with.... you have to find, purchase, or be given one first. And you can't learn or develop some skills (like pickpocketing, lockpicking, intimidating) without the requisite gold pieces, and gold is in short supply early on, so you really have to get out and explore and be resourceful to scrounge up money any way you can so you can move on. You truly have to work to progress in this game as nothing is handed to you, which I found refreshing, engaging, and addictive.

The central theme in Risen 2 is exploration. You're given about eight or so islands/locales to explore (although only one is available initially) and a large part of the fun I had with the game was trekking around the vast woods, caves, beaches, and mountain tops searching for treasure while completing a metric buttload of quests (well over 300). Nothing in the game is randomly generated, so when you find a hidden chest in some nook or cranny, the treasure is something the developers wanted you to find there. A lot of time it is gold or sellable valuables, but you can also find more powerful weapons or ingredients/parts used to make something else. Creatures and monsters lurk everywhere and if you venture too far before you're ready, you will die quickly. But you will learn to either wait until you're stronger to come back or find some clever way around the enemies to avoid fighting them.

The combat is admittedly clunky and involves mostly mashing the attack button, at least at first. Depending on how you spend your Glory (experience points) and gold pieces, you can develop various skills in categories like blades, firearms, toughness, cunning, voodoo, etc, which allows for more variety in the fights (such as projectile weapons, magic, parry/riposte). How you build the character is up to you, but I found that the Firearms category was most beneficial since a musket with a low reload time and a large number of bullets will take down just about any foe (including the final boss) without any trouble. This approach, of course, sort of breaks the combat system, but I didn't find the combat to be a selling point of the game anyway. Also, if you don't want to use this approach, you can often depend on your near-indestructable AI teammate to aggro many of the enemies and allow you to get in some good strikes without getting blocked or hit back.

The Pirate/Voodoo story I thought was interesting and something different. Nothing that rocked my world, but engaging nontheless, and it kept me interested until the end. The banter between the main character and the various NPCs had me, more often than not, laughing at loud, especially in the last third of the game, and it's clear that the writers have a great sense of humor (and very Monkey Island-esque at that). I also really enjoyed the voice acting and found it completely believable for the most part, and I am honestly shocked that so many people thought it was bad. Really? Not everyone has to sound like Nolan North.

The musical score nicely fits the game world and environments. Sounds effects are appropriate, although your AI teammate (particularly one, Patty) makes the oddest buzzing noise when she's moving behind you and always made me feel like I was being pursued by some giant feral bumblebee.

I've mentioned some of the game's technical issues above, but aside from those, I experienced nothing else of note. And nothing gamebreaking for me...never had the game freeze. These days that's a victory in itself.

I can't comment on how this game relates to the first Risen game as I never played it.

________________

Overall, this game is not going to win any awards, but I had a really fun time playing it. My final time clocked in about 30 hours, which is pretty good bang for the buck in my opinion. If you are a completionist like me and go for all the side quests and search for all the hidden chests and items, then there's not going to be much to go back to a second time, unless you just like the story or characters.

I encourage those of you who have been playing games for a long time (and don't get hung up on graphics/animations/etc) to at least give this one a rental and see if it sticks with you.

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Good:

-Unique Pirate theme and tropical settings including beautiful beaches, treacherous jungles, creepy caves and voodoo temples.

-Surprisingly good music that does a great job creating ambiance. Going in caves genuinely scares me thanks to this (and the fact that I'm stubborn about not wanting to use up torches lol).

-Lots of quests/exploring/collecting to do.

-Interesting combat: I admit, the combat at first in this game seems super boring, but once you are able to buy a few skills (faster attacks, power attacks, etc) it really improves.

-Tons of skills to learn: ranging from sword and gun skills, to voodoo, to sending a trained monkey through a window to rob a house for you lol.

Bad:

-The text is TINY, so unless you're right in front of your TV you will have a hard time reading it. For the console releases of this they really should have included an option to make it larger.

-Lots of pop-in textures.

-The in-game map isn't great because you can't zoom.

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I was sceptical about getting this game because all the bad reviews and I figured why not,I liked the first one, people just expect everything should be easy like SKYRIM.Im only 5 hrs into it and it keeps getting better and better. The graphics are not that bad, the scenery is detailed with trees and plantlife that sway in the wind, colorful beaches and hidden caves. The battle system at first might seem like a button masher but you can learn skills for swords,guns,fists, cunning which has skills like sneaking,lockpicking and pick pocket, also skills for voodoo(black magic). At first some enemies might seem tough, that just means you arent strong enough for that area yet, you will spend alot of time and gold learning skills and getting the best equipment. So far there are alot of quests and odd jobs to do in the game and one thing ive noticed is when doing quests you have to pay attention to what people say cuz there are no point A to point B cursors to hold your hand, you actually have to look and pay attention to things, which is what i like about games like this, there is a feature that you can go through and read past conversations with NPC's if you missed something.I have not had a chance to get going on the story yet as I like to do alot of questing first before I blow through the story. So ignore all the bad reviews people tend to cry more when they actually have to put effort into something,when they expect to have everything given to them,And if you think the graphics are bad than go buy a better tv for crying out loud.

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Loved this game! How much you say? Well I played it all the way through twice and had to grind about 4 hrs extra just to get the last trophy for the platinum(dumb trophy by the way) The game is quite humorous and fun and can easily take 40-50hrs on the first playthrough. My only complaint is the combat which was much better in the first game. Why did they take away block? Who knows? Play it on easy and it is a blast. I know this game did not sell so well but I still hope that there may be a sequel someday for the next gen!

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Story line : 5 stars

Pirate Theme: 5 stars

Tech upkeep: 4.5

It was a great game, the story was equally good. though later in the game it got a little laggy. No big deal as I had a blast.

Definitely this game is in my top 10 favorites.

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Travel Carry Case Bag for Slim Ps3 Playstation 3

Travel Carry Case Bag for Slim Ps3 Playstation 3 Console Shoulder Carrying Black
Customer Ratings: 4 stars
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USED THIS CASE TO TRANSPORT MY PS3, GAMES, CABLES AND 10" TABLET. PLENTY OF ROOM MUCH BETTER THAN THE ONE I BOUGHT FOR MY XBOX

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yes it did but it was shipped without a shoulder strap. i didnt want to go through all the trouble of waiting for the strap in the mail. so i purchased another one. overall i really like the bag the only issue was the shoulder strap. which was one of the main reasons i purchased it..

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Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition

Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition - PC
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
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First things first: in the past I have chastised EA a number of times for its release of cookie-cutter games, crippled with atrocious DRM schemes. So, in all fairness, I now have to say this: DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS IS A GAMER's DREAM! It is an excellent game and it comes FREE of any DRM madness. So, thank you EA for listening to your customers (let's only hope this new trend holds...).

This is one of those games that are easy to control, a joy to roam through and fun to play at no end.

I am a huge cRPG fan and cannot remember such a great companion/squad cRPG ever since the Baldur's Gate Saga. And to tell you the truth, this is the game I was dreaming of being able to play one day while playing BG (yeah, by now we all know that NEVERWINTER NIGHTS never delivered).

There are about a dozen gender/race/class/background choices and a great many combinations in forming your party. The armor and the weapons are exceptionally made and everything shows on your characters. And the graphics are truly beautiful! You have to see the rendering of flames to believe them.

Nevertheless, what really stands out is the gameplay. Every battle is a puzzle to be solved, pausing ever so often to reallocate enemies to the best suited party members (a feature I loved in BG!). Of course one can always turn off the autopause feature and let the AI take over the rest of your party and turn the game into an hack&slash action RPG (not exactly my cup of tea but, hey, it's still nice to know it's there).

Finally, this is a game made just like the classics in many ways, including duration. I am now playing the game for over 20 hours and I feel that I barely scraped the surface! DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS is one satisfying RPG!

My only gripe is this: I did not appreciate such short dialogue options. Most fit a single line and more often than not they consist of a couple of words. I like my RPGs to be wordy and challenging to my verbal imagination as well and I want my characters to participate in the humor, not just provoke it or react to it. Remember the long dialogue options in BG? Well, expect to find DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS much more laconic.

I guess 10 years of fast-paced FPS and blitzkrieging RTS do take their toll...

Now this is the COLLECTOR's EDITION which is almost 30% more expensive than the Standard edition. For the extra money you get: a tin case, a cloth map, a bonus DVD (soundtrack, making of documentary, concept art & wallpapers and strategy tips), an in-game quest and character as well as three enchanted items. Is it worth it? You be the judge.

The blood sprays, the swords clang and the spells explode. The animations are beautifully made and add a lot to both enjoyment and immersion. There is a verse in Homer's Iliad I love: "the warrior fell and his armor echoed around him" and I was reminded of it many a times throughout the game.

This game will stay with you. Do not miss on it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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Installation

For some reason it took three installs to get the program on my machine. Not sure why, I received no error message or other indication there might be a problem. So getting the game installed took nearly an hour.

Digital Rights Management

-DRM is not present in DAO. A simple CD Key and online registration to get an account with BioWare/EA and you're ready to rock.

Tech Support

Thank goodness the BioWare community is intelligent, helpful and generally proactive. Since EA purchased BioWare official tech support is passed off to EA. EA has no tech support to speak of. So imagine my frustration to find my NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX had issues running the game. I've got a gaming rig CPU Intel 2 X9000 2.8GHz, 6GB RAM, etc. and I could not run DAO. Big WTF. Thank goodness the BioWare Forums had the answers I sought.

Exclusive Content

The bonus items at start up are nice, having the Stone Prisoner is great (I think as DLC it retails for $15 US) But the Cloth Map is meh. The tin case is nice if you're into that kind of thing I often discard packaging in favor of my giant CD book. The features disk is interesting but if you want to play the game not see the whole shebang it may not be worth it for you. Overall I'd probably get the Collector's Edition again (it was a birthday present from me to me) but if you're on a budget or want plenty of bang for your buck its probably not worth it.

Gameplay

Graphics

Anyone that tells me the game looks outdated or poor isn't paying attention or can't witness DAO in all its glory. When I can see the pores on Morigan's face, the individual teeth on Dog (aka Rabbit) and see stray hairs on Alistair, it is amazing. Not to mention the burning, bleeding, spurting, freezing, effects from damage. Seeing an enemy break because he's been frozen is awesome. If you've got a mediocre rig a PS3 may be the way to go. I haven't seen a 360 in action so check those out but if you've got a machine that can handle the settings check the PC version is way worth it.

Cutscenes

If you've played BioWare games before you know they're big on story. If you've played Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, Fable, Diablo, Guild Wars, LOTRO, and like the story this has more, and it is good. If you like Demon Souls this is less hack n' slash and more about the entire experience. Heavy dialogue, great and frequent cutscenes, are BioWare hallmarks. If that is not your bag you can hit ESC to skip the scenes.

I do miss the dialogue wheel from Mass Effect, I rather enjoyed hearing my character speak. Selecting dialouge options is akin to KOTOR or Baldur's Gate and at times it seems like your representative in the game is mute. This is not enough to discourage or dissuade me it is merely an annoyance.

Gameplay

Think an updated Baldur's Gate. As your avatar gets better at killin' he or she performs more stylized attacks and finishing moves reminicient of Fallout 3's VATS finishing/killing attacks. The game goes to SloMo and shows you doing X to critter Y. Navigating is easy your compass has a quest arrow when you use the feature.

One of the most interesting things are the "tactics" the more cunning your avatar or the higher the level you get more "if A then B" actions and choices making a very flexible but very effective "script" for combat. I.E. Condition: 'Self health is < 10%' Action: "Use strongest healing potion". The limitations are your ingenuity, imagination, tactical know how and your avatar's intelligence.

Downloadable Content (DLC)

I like the way the have DLC set up, it relay's what you have, what you can buy, and etc. It seems that Electronic Art's buisness model in DAO is to provide a solid and addicting product then have you purchase things to make the story more in depth. As a gamer it is annoying but I'll probably persist. As a stockholder if it would raise the share prices it seems like a good idea.

DAO Creator is awesome. I don't know what the consoles can do with regards to this option but it allows PC players unlimited creativity and ensures amazing replay value.

Overall

I am very happy with the game. If you have any doubts cast them aside, there is enough knowledge to ensure bugs are being fixed (there are few if any) and almost all technical issues I've seen posted on the BioWare forums are resolved.

This is an extremely enjoyable game with a new twist on old genres and the story creates a world that I certainly hope persists in BioWare's repitoire.

Have fun, enjoy.

*UPDATE*

Content

The rating of M is well earned. Gore is aplenty with decapitation and similar fantasy violence. Those concerned about the romance plots should know that you can engage in sexual relationships. The scenes depicting these are similar you would see to day time television, no genetalia or reproductive organs. There is also prostitution though once again no nudity.

Buy Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition Now

To long time classic CRPG fans, Dragon Age: Origins (DAO) is a nostalgic trip back to the bygone era of CRPG Renaissance amist the blight of dark forces joined with many (certainly not all of them) of generic FPSs that gives you measley 4-7 hours on single player campaign and hybrid RPGs that blur the true quality of classic CRPG. While Bioware has released many games that all found financial success and critical acclaims, Bioware's track record since Black Isle's demise hasn't always been impressive among classic CRPG fans.

Bethesda has successfully reinvigorated non-linear, open-ended, free-formed, real-time CRPG of 'TES: Arena' and 'TES: Daggerfall' with 'Oblivion' and 'Fallout 3'. Now Bioware has done the same to narratively-focused, linear, story-driven, party-based tactical CRPG of 'Baldur's Gate' series with DAO. Both are in lineage of classic 'Dungeons and Dragons', 'Tolkien', 'Ultima' series and 'Wizardry' series. But each camp go for totally different experience.

Now for the fans of classic CRPG fans can finally find great solace in the latest medieval fantasy epic called 'Dragon Age: Origins'. This game really picks up the torch from the late Black Isle and its own 'Baldur's Gate' in terms of gameplay, design, lore, and character development and carries on the impossible task of putting CRPG back on the track. It generally succeeds with DAO but it will surely polarize many others too.

Those who began to acquire the taste of RPG through games like 'KOTOR', 'Jade Empire', and 'Mass Effect' must be warned though. DAO is not quite like aforementioned Bioware's titles. DAO is a classic, hard-core PC-centric western CRPG firmly rooted in D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) compared to the past three Bioware titles, which were hybrid western / console RPG geared toward more accessible and broader appeal that could be viewed as shallow to hard-core CRPG gamers. But there are definitely similarities among these titles too.

Those who began to acquire the taste of RPG through games like 'Oblivion' and 'Fallout 3' must be warned also. DAO is not a non-linear, open-ended, free-formed CRPG. You don't do anything anytime anywhere you please, and interaction with items and environment is non-existent. While you are given a fair amount of freedom once you pass the initial origin part and first big prelude, DAO is a linear game where main focus is on narrative focus via plot, dialogues, character dynamics, and of course tactical combat. DAO is the polar opposite to TES series. You don't have such freedom in DAO, but intensely plot-driven, character-driven game just not feasible in TES series. You don't get the visceral, in-your-face hack n' slash here. Combat focuses on character management during each wave of enemies. The action is governed by number-crunching Bioware's own original ruleset, similar to D&D ruleset. DAO gives you much broader scopes of battles with waves of mobs thrown at you alongside your companions, so it's totally different kind of pulse-pounding combat. But I personally love both styles.

And finally this is not a click-fest hack n' slash 'Diablo' clone or various MMORPG either. So if you are looking to get some fix for action RPG, 'Diablo 3' and WOW expansion are on the horizon. You won't get far in this game by just clicking your mouse pointer on your foes.

To some people, it might feel oddly enough it seems Bioware might have taken a step back, Bioware actually has taken a step forward from the games from the golden age of CRPG such as 'Baldur's Gate' series, 'Planescape: Torment' and 'Icewind Dale' series. And those of you who were big fans of 'Baldur's Gate' then were somewhat disappointed with 'Neverwinter Nights', you will be thrilled to finally have the heir to a decade-long empty throne since 'Baldur's Gate' in 'Dragon Age: Origins'.

You get to choose your sex, race, class and background to determine your origin among six different origins. Then you play totally unique origin story / tutorial for a couple of hours. Once you familiarize yourself with control, menu, etc, it leads you to big intro part where you wet your feet with couple of side quests and combat. A good 3-4 hours will be spent to this point. Then you see some exciting cutscenes and you are into the thick of epic battle and more exciting and revealing cutscenes. You get to play a part of the battle. And off you go finally to your main quest after the longest prelude of the video game history. And from hereafter things opens up and give you some freedom.

It still has loading screen between areas like all other Bioware games although it now feels less confined and limited in each area dut to the game's bigger scope created by newly created and much refined 'Eclipse Engine'. I just wish there's an open overworld map where you can actually traverse and level up fighting foes like classic Final Fantasy style instead of clicking on the world map and occassionally running into random combat area.

In terms of graphic, even on high-end PC, things are somewhat bland, blocky and jaggy. While the game doesn't look terrible and CRPG has never been the front-runner graphically, graphic in this game definitely looks dated even by the CRPG standards. By comparison to games like 'Oblivion', 'Fallout 3', and Bioware's own 'Mass Effect', graphic in DAO might even come as a shock. It generally looks more than fine on PC; just don't expect top-notch graphic.

Beside the confined world map, modular nature of the map with loading screen and not quite top-notch graphics, everything else is delivered with depth and grandeur. All the dialogues are voice-acted, except your player character, and there are tons and tons of dialogues in tradition of all previous Bioware's games. The gameworld is littered with lores. Weapons, armours, items, magic, skills, map, quest log, codex, character development / customization, party management and combat tactics are very well handled in robust menu design. DAO is the most PC-centric game since 2002 with 'Morrowind' and 'Neverwinter Nights'. You can handle the combat with either micro-management in 'Baldur's Gate' style using pause function and action queue or more fast-paced with programmable tactics slots for your companions. And the combat mechanics is similar with 'Baldur's Gate'. You have full 3D camera so you can zoom in and out on the fly with mouse wheel and pause with space key. While you have new tactics system, user-programmable command slots that control each and every member of your player characters, thers's only one action queue per character. While tactics slots do generally fine job, multiple action queues are desired.

What seperates DAO from other CRPG is character interaction and dynamic. The world is no longer black and white. Bioware abandons good vs. evil dynamic over much more ambiguity and complex shades of grey. The tone of the game is much darker and bleak. This in turn makes story truly dynamic unlike other Bioware games in the past that only give you the illusion of choice. Besides 6 different origin stories, you now have multiple endings and various permutations depending on your actions. The only thing set in the stone in DAO is the main plot; you are the protagonist who eventually leads the army against the force of evil. How you start, who you start with, who you side with, who you abandon, who you clash with, how you get to the finale, you and your companions' fate are all up in the air.

The story arc is massive, expansive and immensely complex with many different possible outcomes from branching storyline directly stemmed from your choices. It's also very heavy and mature thematically. At the end of my first 70 hour run-through as a human noble, I really felt as if I was truly ladden with the fate of the world as well as people around me. Political intrigues and personal agendas are everywhere. Choices you have to make are genuinely difficult and whatever the consequences you face are irreversible. Each and every single wave of combat feels difficult and exhausted. One wrong move and your party is wiped out. It really felt like a load of heavy burden often too much to bear. This is where DAO truly excels and shines. Not only DAO made me feel like I was actually integral and the most important part of the game, I wanted to embark on a brand new, totally different journey immediately after completing a long, winded and tiresome journey (in a very good way).

'Eclipse Engine' is much better and more powerful than ill-equipped tile-based 'Aurora Engine' and rightful 3D successor of 2D 'Infinity Engine' but still restrictive and modular in nature. I hope Bioware refine the engine in the future to open things up little bit more. It's down right annoying when you get stuck by a tiny pebble on the ground or simple nook and cranny. Loading between each area, both interior and exterior, is still present but each area being much bigger and more detail than ones created by 'Aurora Engine', along with much tighter camera controll, it alleviates a lot of problems. Furthermore, thanks to free 'DAO Toolset', we can expect tons of quality mods from a very active modding community that will probably surpass that of 'Neverwinter Nights' and possibly equal to 'The Elder Scrolls' community. There are already a few official DLCs available for purchase and several mods from 'Dragon Age Nexus', the same site that also host for both 'The Elder Scrolls' and 'Fallout 3'. I guarantee we can expect some terrific mods in the future from the site.

While I had not run into any technical glitches at all throughout my 70 campaign, there's memory leak problems, which cause the game's loading time gets longer and longer during each single continuous session. It's solved by occassionally restart the game but there's some serious loading time problem due to poor memory management.

This game runs surprisingly well on my now ancient P4 HT 3.0Ghz with 2GB RAM and nvidia 7800GS with everything max except AA and resolution, as well as my brand new Intel Core i7 with 6GB RAM and nvidia GTX 295 with everything max.

As for CE package, I solely got this edition because the regular edition comes with really flimsy plastic case, which is a new cheap trend among DVD movies and PC games to save cost. And I am happy they don't stack 2 discs on top of each other with seperate disc divider. As for contents, the cloth map is nothing like the one that came with 'Neverwinter Nights Limited Collector's Edition'. It's very cheap and useless. Extra disc contains about 60 minutes worth of making-of documentaries and promo materials as well as 18 music from the game. It also comes with a few free official DLCs, which are way way over-priced if you decide to purchase seperately.

While I am definitely not happy about the current business trend in the video game industry with DLCs over expansion pack, cheap package with weak manual, over-emphasis on online features, I commend EA for letting Bioware realize its vision with minimum artistic interference and toning down the DRM scheme from the draconian secuROM that forces Internet connection and limited number of installation to much linient version of simple secuROM DVD check. It's definitely step-up from 'Spore' and 'Mass Effect'.

Although it's little too early to tell whether DAO will eclipse 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn', DAO is definetely the best game from Bioware since the legendary game on the other side of TES series. DAO is without a doubt one for the age; crowning achievement among the very best of CRPG indeed.

'Morrowind', 'Oblivion', 'Fallout 3', 'Gothic Trilogy', 'Risen', 'The Witcher', 'Two Worlds', and now 'Dragon Age: Origins' closes this decade on a very exciting note for CRPG and joins the handful of elite 3D CRPG collection from this decade that rivals the golden era of 2D CRPG of 'Baldur's Gate' series, 'Icewind Dale' series, 'Planescape: Torment', 'Fallout', 'Fallout 2', 'Divine Divinity', 'Sacred', and 'Arcanum'. DAO will delight CRPG fans for a long long time.

Read Best Reviews of Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition Here

If you love the Epic Fantasy, Dungeons, Castles, and Knights genre of video games this is a great addition to the realm. These games used to be a bit more popular and they don't come out now as often as they used to . The gaming industry is very heavy in a lot of different genres and the military game is very popular right now. Anyway, I am glad this game came out. Some other great games in this genre are The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition. Gothic 3 Collector's Editionand Dungeon Siege.

About the game

This is a very complex game. It took BioWare five years to develop this game and it shows. There is an awful lot of stuff in it. And most of this stuff is what is expected. There is plenty of battling and plenty of world to explore. And it is a party oriented game so if you have played Dungeon Siege or World of Warcraft you are very familiar with the style of game play. As you adventure through and explore the world you pick up party members that will fight with you. And you have to put together a complimentary set of members. You need a balance. If you are a warrior you are going to need a mage for healing and a rogue for lockpicking etc. It's a nice way to explore a lot of different roles in the game.

Where this game gets different

There are some very interesting things about this game that set it apart from other games in the genre. First off, there are a lot of moral and ethical choices that you have to make during the game. Will you steal from others? Will you make sacrifices for the greater good? And these choices affect what happens in the game. For example: Will you kill the evil king who has been wreaking havoc? If you do then his daughter will not marry you. This ruins your chances to become the new king if that's what you seek. Or how about this: When battling the evil bloodmage you have the choice of making a deal with him. Will you spare his life in order to get a permanant boost to your constitution stat? If you do this then some of your party members will disapprove. Bad Karma! And it has an effect on the game. Party members will get upset with you and leave the party permanently!

Not for kids

This game is definitely not for kids. There is quite a bit of very realistic bloodshed and you have killing blows that will actually decapitate your foes. And, there are lots of cut scenes after battles where you and your party members are spattered with very realistic looking blood. And....You can actually woo and seduce other members of your party through gift-giving, conversations, and good karma actions. It is an interesting concept and if your seductions, which take time to develop, are successful you will be rewarded with an animated cut scene of the actuall nuptials (PG rated).

Some of the minuses of the game

I got the collectors edition with all the extras which include a special character, some special armor, and another realm with quests to explore. But the game doesn't come with a storage chest! Yikes, no place for your party to store all their stuff? Wow, all you can do is carry a limited number of things in your backpack and when it gets full you have to sell the stuff to vendors.

Well, seeing as this game is very quest oriented (There are hundreds of quests) you never know what stuff you are going to need to complete a quest. And, I love to accumulate all kinds of armor, weapons, gems and things. It is a fun part of the game for me. So this is definitely a minus for me. But they do offer a solution. You can buy and download the add-on quest that gives you a whole new area to explore and a party chest to store your goods. This downloadable costs seven dollars but is worth it for the chest and the extra game play. And it's a seamless download. You can get it through the game screen which means no worries about extracting files. You pay for it and click it and the game does the rest. In a few minutes the new game area shows up on your world map.

Crafting is a bit weak Crafting is a big part of many online games and other epic fantasy rpg's. In this game you can do some crafting like make potions and traps but this is definitely weak in the game. There are not a whole lot of options for this and materials tend to be scarce. I really like the crafting aspects of games and usually do a lot of it but there is not a whole lot of it in this game. Definitely a minus for me.

Political intrigue

I am not really sure if this is a negative but in the games I play and the epic fantasy books I read I tend to not be too interested in all the political intrigue. You know, this is where the various houses, lords, and barons are all struggling for power. In this game there is a lot of this and the decisions you make during game play have an effect. As you are trying to conquer the blight that is set upon the land you have to drum up support from the various houses and factions. The moral and ethical decisions you make do matter. And the quests you complete are a factor too.

Extra stuff

There is some real fun stuff about this game. The developers really took a good look at combat and there are lots of great sword and weapon moves that your character makes and there are some great mini animations. Sometimes when you fell a large creature like an ogre your character will actually jump right up on its face and issue the killing blow. The combat is pretty good!

Mechanics of the software

I have a fast computer with Windows Vista and everything has gone smoothly for me. The installation was smooth and game play is smooth, no crashes and no errors.

So, should you buy it?

This genre used to be the norm for video games but these kinds of games don't come out too often anymore. So if you like the genre then you definitely should get it. You won't be disappointed. It delivers what it promises.

This collectors version comes with a cloth map, lots of extra materials, a bonus character and more quests. But it doesn't come with the party chest for storing goods so if you want this you are going to have to spend another 7 dollars for the download -which is worth it.

And, because the game is so very complex I highly recommend you buy yourself a game guide. I bought this one: Dragon Age: Origins: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) It is absolutely necessary if you want to find all the secrets and make your way successfully through the complexity of the game.

It is what is expected from the genre; You are set in a medieval world and expected to save it from the forces of evil. Along the way you get lots of political intrigue, battles with monsters and lots of opportunities for adventure.

Want Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition Discount?

Deluxe edition stuff at the very end.

If you don't want to read my retarded ode to Bioware, please skip ahead to where it says, "Actual Review!".

Ah, Bioware. You're like an old girlfriend. The one who defined love for me (1). Then you hurt me (2). I still loved you, but I didn't understand; why did you have to do that?

You went your way and I went mine. Eventually I learned to forget. I met new people; sometimes I'd fall in love, but it was never quite the same (3).

We'd see each other every couple years, and we'd have a lot of fun for a night or two (4). But other times I thought to myself, "What are you doing with your life? We could be happy together! Why are you doing this? (5). After these ultimately disappointing hookups I'd always dig up our old photos and go through them (6). I'm not ashamed to say I cried a little.

You always told me you were searching for something. Learning who you were, and how to be.

Then, one day in early November, you called me. You said, "I know now; I know who I am. I know where I belong: with you." And then you came back home to me.

Then it all became so clear; you HAD been learning. It was the old you, but a new version! Everything past was prologue to this; the version of you I always knew was there. I just needed to have faith, and you'd see it too, and we could get back what we had, what we'd always known was us.

I love you Bioware. I realize now I've always loved you. Thank you for being in my life.

Answer Key!

1. Baldur's Gate I and II, the infinity engine that led to Icewind Dale, Fallout, and Planescape

2. Neverwinter Nights

3. The Elder Scrolls, Neverwinter Nights 2, FFX, FFXII

4. KOTOR, Mass Effect

5. Jade Empire, Sonic RPG

6. all those replays of BGII

ACTUAL REVIEW!

This is the best cRPG experience I've had in ten years. It becomes very clear within the first few minutes of your Origin story that you're experiencing gaming history. Not the revolutionary, innovative, awesome new mechanic kind of gaming history. This is analogous to a new album from your favorite artist that's been doing experimental side-projects for the last few years, and now comes out with a solid, deep, meaningful effort in a well-established form.

All the old ingredients are here: rich, meaningful character relationships; deep, tactically challenging combat; well written, thought-provoking dialogue trees. In short, everything you knew Bioware was capable of, but hasn't been fully present in any of their games since BGII.

Don't get me wrong; I've liked almost all of their games since then (Jade Empire and the Sonic RPG being the exceptions). It's just that none have fully satisfied me, or they've left me with the nagging feeling that something's just not quite right (re: KOTOR and Mass Effect feel slightly underdone).

This game is an instant classic, from a master of the genre. It's the kind of game that will be added to the roster of eminently replayable games (BGII, Fallout 1+2, Morrowind, Final Fantasy [pick your favorite], etc.). It's as good as or better than all of those.

Now, those of you that have NOT played Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Icewind Dale, NWN2, beware.

As evidenced by the very few negative reviews, the ad campaign for this game is not very representative of the content. This is a true western RPG, especially if you're getting it on the PC. Combat is challenging on every difficulty mode but easy.

IT IS BY NO MEANS a hack-and-slash or action RPG!!!

I still recommend it, but be prepared to open your mind to a new experience.

For those of you trying to decide on which version to get, here are some things:

If you played and loved Baldur's Gate, and got it because you bought into the "spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" thing, get it for the PC, no question.

On the console, the camera is locked in behind the character in the style of Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect. This is fine for those who fell in love with Bioware since their console years began, but not if you want to play it for full tactical enjoyment.

Also, if you have a capable PC, the graphics are far superior to the consoles, which is often the case.

360 vs. PS3?

PS3 looks better, 360 moves smoother. 6 of 1.

Don't hesitate. Buy this game.

Learn it,

Live it,

Love it:

Bioware is Back.

P.S. For those of you getting the Deluxe Edition, the added content is completely worth it. You don't have to feel cheated; they did it right. Worth every last penny.

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