Dishonored

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Gamers will recognize structural elements from Bioshock, which, to my mind, is a very good thing. Here, however, the stealth mechanics work flawlessly, and your magical abilities aren't simply various weapons. Rather, the mechanics allow you to teleport short distances, see through walls (a la Batman, Deus Ex, Assassin's Creed, etc) and inhabit animals and other humans. Not only are these mechanics just cool, they allow you to attack objectives in a multiplicity of ways. DISHONORED is thus a game that can sustain at least a few play throughs.

TIPS:

Get Dark Vision Immediately.

Then Upgrade Blink to level 2.

Then upgrade Agility to 1, as your ability to jump higher will enable higher blinks. Agility 2 is useless.

Then get Bend time. Then STOP time. Stop time costs 8 runes, and it's worth it--especially when you want to kill Tall Boys.

My only gripe would be that the game seems to punish you for being what you are--an assassin-as killing just a moderate amount of people (in video game reality, obviously) leads to the "dark" ending. To that I ask, who hired the Church Lady as a designer on this thing? I did my best to spare non-combatants, yet the game still seems to take a dim view of killing. And I won't give anything away, but the "dark" ending is not satisfying. I was hoping for at least something bittersweet, like the end of The Searchers.

There's also no barometer to give you real-time data on how much "chaos" you're creating. However, you do get your stats at the end of a mission. So if you're going for the no-kill play through, you ca re-do that mission if you accidentally killed someone. (Unlike Deus Ex, which kept you guessing until the end--Lame.)

It would be good to have some "chaos" gradations in this game. Therefore, you could have a play through with

1. a normal ending (you killed a lot of guys because you're a badasss and they got in your way) but spared civilians, knocked out people when you could and weren't a complete psycho),

2. an ending where you were one of the Super Friends (you killed very few people).

3. a REALLY twisted ending where you played through as a complete homicidal maniac--killing everyone and their pets without compunction and without mercy and often without reason except because there's something wrong with you.

However, I simply played how I wanted--with a fairly strict scorched Earth policy--and watched the "happy" ending on YouTube. Maybe I'll do a no-kill play through at some later point.

But this is pretty nit-picky. Playing the game is really fun. I'm just a little irritated by the end (if you didn't get that).

In conclusion, if you dig first person stealth action games with broad (though not strictly open) worlds, buy this game. It's great.

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I just finished a stealth playthrough of the game. To me, it was a somewhat frustrating experience, but still fun. I wanted the good ending, so I killed as few people as possible, but I did resort to direct combat at times.

Attacking people directly is not only quicker, but there is also a more satisfying array of options. The game gives you many lethal weapons, such as guns, traps and the ability to reprogram any enemy technology to target bad guys instead. There are also powers that allow you to summon rats that devour your enemies and whirlwinds that slam them into walls.

In stealth mode, there aren't very many ways to incapacitate the guards. There are crossbow bolts that put people to sleep, and you can sneak up behind people and knock them out, but that's about it. The option to knock people out does not always work as planned, either, and, even if the prompt comes up on screen, Corvo will sometimes raise his knife to block instead, usually right before the guard turns and sees you creepily standing behind him, which understandably freaks him out.

In a nutshell, if you're still deciding which way to play, stealth offers the good ending, and violence offers gameplay fluidity.

One decision I thought was strange was that the game always had Corvo carry a knife in his right hand, even if you are doing a nonviolent playthrough and even when you are only attempting to use a stealth skill such as blink. I never used the knife, but it was always there, in a space that could have been occupied by more useful abilities or equipment.

The area levels are relatively open, compared to some of the more linear games that are out nowadays, but it's difficult to fully appreciate your surroundings in a stealth playthrough. At some points, I just wanted to walk around and look at the city, which had a watercolor aesthetic I really liked, but guards are everywhere, and you have to get rid of all of them before you can explore openly.

I did not let that keep me from doing sidequests, though. I am very much a completionist, so I tried to explore all the areas fully before I left. There are many sidequests that don't even show up in your journal until you find a specific area, like saving a woman who's surrounded by rats or protecting an accused witch from overzealous guards, which helps with replayability. It was also fun to find the runes that upgrade your abilities and listen to the Outsider's (the guy who gives you your powers) take on in-game events.

Though I tried to be as thorough as possible, and though I played stealth mode, which is inherently time-consuming, I finished the game in about eight hours. The story was a little formulaic, and the only characters who were really interesting were Granny Rags and the Outsider. I did like the audiographs, though, which important characters used to record their private thoughts (Sometimes too private, actually. If I was feeling guilty about murdering someone, I probably wouldn't record myself saying so.)

Another thing that offers insight into the world is the heart the Outsider gives you, which can tell you more about characters and places in the game. The heart has a really cool voice and sometimes says interesting things about important NPC's. I was especially shocked at what it said about Piero, the scientist who upgrades your equipment at the Hound Pits Pub. Unfortunately, minor NPCs with similar backgrounds all have the same descriptions, like 'she hides her hands, which are red and raw from work,' will be a description for all women who aren't nobles or major NPCs.

The tall boys, which were featured heavily in advertisements, show up very late in the game, and, as far as I could tell, there's no way to incapacitate them without killing them, which was annoying. There was an interesting tidbit in one of the books at Lady Boyle's party, though, which made them way more interesting and sympathetic.

Despite my negativity in this review, I did like the game enough to give it three stars. I enjoyed playing a new IP, and I actually do like stealth games most of the time. Dishonored offers a lot of unique ways to get around without being seen, like possessing animals and stopping time, and it was fun to play with all the different options. The more destructive powers look promising too. Usually I can't stand to play the darker path, but for this game I'll try to give it a go so I can try out all the abilities.

I pre-ordered this game months ago, and I think it was worth it. It was exciting to play something so new and different, even if there were a few flaws. Dishonored is hard to fit in one category, so I'm not sure how to recommend it to others, but hopefully this review will help anyone on the fence about buying the game.

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This game was pretty cool and kind of a refreshing play, mainly do to the fact that the player has options about how he or she wants to go about undertaking the game! You can go full bore and just kill everyone, or there is ways to sneak around, and you can also render guards unconsious if you would rather instead of killing them. On my first time through, I experimented with several different ways of doing things and I tried out all the various different weapons & abilities, just to get a taste of everything and find out how I most preferred going about things.

I only had one main gripe about the game, and it was an ever so small annoyance too: Occasionally trying to chose a weapon or skill from the wheel, (especially as you earn more abilities & such) was sometimes a bit glitchy. For example, there were times later in the game that I was trying to chose my pistol with the regular shots over this one with explosive rounds and it would give me the pistol with the explosive rounds, and so on. It was a slight bit frustrating, but fortunately that only happened every once in a while.

The game was a little shorter than I was expecting, but then again it would seem short, especially after playing on a game like Skyrim off & on throughout many months. So don't let that deter you, because the game is actually a decent length...I'd say roughly around 15 hours. And just because I had no life for 2 days and sat on my arse & played it throughout much of release day and the following Wednesday, lulz.

I'd say definitely play it though! If you like stealth & action mixed in one game with all sorts of player options throughout the game, then I highly recommend checking this game out! I for one plan to play through it at least a couple more times eventually and try out different means of getting through the game...first time through was just a trial play to get a feel for everything. Next time I'm going to get down to business! Check this one out fellow gamers! I love a good stealth/assassin game! Looking forward also to Assassin's Creed III and Hitman: Absolution!

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After having this game on pre-order for months, I was thrilled with I finally got to play it. I was surprised to see there wasn't a ton of back-story in the game. Usually with games like this, you have to sit through 10 minutes of game story screens before you even start to play. So I was happy to jump right in and get started.

Graphics: 7 out of 10

The graphics were good, but by no means spectacular. What made them good was the items in the game itself were interesting to look at. Menacing Tall-Boys, abandoned buildings, artwork and such gave the game a colonial dark-age feel, but the actual detail of the final thing was a little less than mind blowing. The graphics of the city itself could have been better than it was. What was supposed to appear as a large, wide open city, instead it felt more like an enclosed island, with no other outside world.

Story: 8 out of 10

Protector turns assassin, when the empress he's charged with protecting is killed and the murder is blamed on him. After escaping jail on the eve of your execution, you begin to help a group of loyalists find the missing heir to the throne, the empresses daughter. She was taken by the same men who killed her mother, and framed you for her murder. You're charged with tasks, each one different than the others. Some involve finding documents, some finding people. The game plays out much like the game inFamous, where you chose either an evil path or a good one. Depending on how many people you kill during your missions, the city and story line changes accordingly. The game actually had a fairly predictable ending, which can change depending on how you reach to it.

Violence: 7 of 10

Not as much as many of the games out there. And not nearly as much as I thought there would be. The game previews made it look like the main goal was to go around killing everyone, but in actuality it's the opposite. You are rewarded with points at the end of each mission, and extra points are given for not killing people. While the story-line of the game makes you think you're an assassin out for revenge, the goal is actually to hurt as few people as possible along the way. You are rewarded more greatly for doing so. It's also much harder to complete the missions with out hurting anyone. Your enemies are out to kill you, and if they see you, come out in large numbers and attack. To complete each mission without violence takes a lot of work, but it's encouraged through out the whole game.

Game length: Medium-Long

The game took several days to complete and that was playing many hours each day, on the average difficulty level. It would have even taken longer had I spent the time to explore the game thoroughly, and tried to complete it without killing anyone. At one point I felt like the game was even getting a little too long, and I was ready to be at the end. I believe that was because at one point in the game, you are lead to believe you have completed it, when actually you are only about 2/3 of the way through.

Gameplay: 8 of 10

While the game starts out a bit slow, it picks up as you go along. Gaining magical powers and finding ways to use them really increases the fun in the gameplay. The more you use the powers, the better you get at using them. Physical weapons are minimal, but fun. They work well for the time frame this game is supposed to be set in. Pistols, swords and crossbows are your main weapons. You can also stealthily sneak up on enemies, and knock them out, so that you're not killing them, but disabling them as a threat so you can continue with your mission. One of the two most ominous foes in the game are the Tall-Boys, a soldier in a mean looking mechanical suite, with a powerful cannon attached that he shoots people with. You know when they're coming for you, since each step they take shakes the ground around you as they get closer. The second enemy is one you don't suspect, the rats in the streets. They come out of nowhere and attack at random times. They move in on a subject in a large swarm, and actually eat the person they attack, if they aren't able to get away first. The game does a good job of focusing on a main goal, and not jumping around so much that it makes following the story-line difficult.

Hidden items and how they work:

There are important items stashed all over the city for you to find. Some of these items give you new, much needed magical powers, some are just coins to buy things with, or extra supplies of health of magic power refills. There are books and papers everywhere, and reading them can give you even more back-story to the game, not included in the regular scenes. They offer clues on where to find hidden things, passwords to locked safes hidden throughout the game, and lots of background as to who people are you meet in the game. You are given a heart as a tool, and when you equip it, it will direct you to where many of these hidden items are. It can also tell you what the a game character is really thinking, or information on deeds from their past.

Conclusion:

While the game started out a little slow, and first impressions made me think it was too similar to the gameplay of inFamous, the rest of the game proved to me it was one of a kind. I liked that the game was set in the era of the black plague, and that much of the story line was based off the repercussions of the illness affecting the whole city. Game load times were acceptable, and glitches and lagging were pretty much non-existent, which was a relief, since Bethesda games have had issues with them in the past. While the previews make the game out to be all about getting revenge and killing as many people as you can, there's actually a lot more to it. The game actually encourages you to try and take the more difficult rout, a non-lethal approach. Plenty of hours of gameplay, and lots of hidden things to find along the way. The graphics were acceptable, but had they been better, it could have made Dishonored even better. It's a sold 4 star game, has replay-ability, since you'll likely want to do a play-though seeing the story line for both the good and the evil choices you can make.

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First, I have to add the caveat that I typically HATE first person action games. I find the first person perspective to be incredibly disorienting and difficult to control. This becomes particularly problematic during sequences of intense action or where intricate stunts are required. I always feel like I have blinders strapped on that limit peripheral vision and create a confusing and claustrophobic game experience.

However I love steam-punk and dystopian story concepts and felt compelled to give Dishonored a try despite the first person POV.

I was not disappointed. Though the story starts out as a simple stereotypical quest-fest wherein some random NPC you just met starts barking orders at you which you dutifully jump to fulfill, the story eventually evolves into an intricate plot that carries you through a depressing and troubled though hauntingly beautiful realm afflicted with numerous plagues, both biological and political in nature.

Each mission is elegantly constructed and features numerous possible solutions. By numerous I do not mean that there are two or even three ways to complete your objectives I mean there are at LEAST three, probably more, ways to approach each target. This represents what must have been a painstakingly intricate process for the game's developers. The payoff is a game unlike any other in terms of its potential for player ingenuity and personal style. Literally, it is staggering to consider how many different paths are available to you.

The interesting thing about Dishonored is that you can complete the entire game without killing anyone. It's difficult especially if you try to beat the game while maintaining a flawless "ghost" achievement wherein you not only kill no one, but you perform zero non-lethal take-downs as well. One must make expert use of the available skills your character possess and be extremely patient but this option of game play is a strategic mastermind's paradise. Political targets can be taken down without assassinating them. Removing targets from power instead takes a much more political and therefore narratively more interesting tactic, thus allowing the player to become the author of some extremely rewarding plot twists.

Unlike most first person action games, the stealthy nature of game play and the specific powers available to you makes game play smooth and easy to master. The lack of peripheral perception that hampers most first person POV games does nothing to lessen your character's potential here.

But the real star of Dishonored isn't the story or the elegant game mechanics. It is the world itself. The story takes place within the city of Dunwall, which in addition to being in the grip of an illegitimate totalitarian regime is also beset with a deadly plague. The scenery, attitudes of the populace, and overall environmental tone of the game drives Dishonored. It is this prevailing pessimistic sense of doom amid a world that is yet full of wealth, privilege, and beauty that creates such a memorable and mesmerizing game experience. The illusion that this world is real and in the absolute darkest of times is so absolutely convincing and masterfully handled that the initial quest-fest feel and the occasional in-congruent hazard (there are these weird acid-spitting plants that pop up every now and then which are totally inappropriate for the rest of the game) is quickly forgiven.

The music and stylized graphics also serve to help Dishonored stand out among the myriad of new releases hitting stores this season. Although skeptical at first, I have to recommend Dishonored to any player seeking a unique and breathtakingly gorgeous game experience. This one is definitely a work of art.