Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

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This is not a game to review until you have completed it. As I moved deeper and deeper into the game, my opinions began to deviate from my first impressions. Many times, it seems that once you play for two to three hours in a game, you get a basis for what the entirity will be like. This is an exception. It's a lengthy game. It's a game that you probably shouldn't take a month long break before picking it back up because it can be difficult. But it's a game that will reward you for playing, by getting better and better until the end.

Graphics:

Backgrounds are stunning. Character models are very detailed as well. Often the game's camera will pan out allowing you to view a large area. This is primarily the platforming portions of the game. But it will definitely cause you to stop and look at the scenery from time to time (especially when you get to the castle). You do not have an option to adjust the camera angle and 80% of the time, you won't need to. However, there are times that you will seemingly be whipping the screen not knowing where the enemies are. And it did cause me to die a few times.

Audio:

Am I playing Lord of the Rings? Most of the tracks made me think that I was in a battle for Middle Earth. The chanting and orchestrated music are very similar to the LotR movies, which may or may not be a good thing. Personally, I felt some of the tracks were way overdone and intensified for no apparent reason. It was especially awkward as I walked through a serene forest with no enemies AT ALL to have the music start blaring, trumpets, choir and all. My heart stopped as I thought I was about to be killed by some unknown demon, but what? Nothing. Must have been the wind. As I progressed through the game, the music toned down and became a bit darker and softer. It became more Castlevania-like, but still not what you might have expected. There are a few Easter Eggs in the game where you will hear some classic 8-bit tracks and those were definitely welcomed. The voice dialogue was well done. Patrick Stewart did a good job narrating and playing the part of Zobek, an ally of yours. Robert Carlyle's (Gabriel) voice sounds Scottish which is cool, but seemed a bit subdued at times. I ended up having to turn the voice tracks up to hear him speak. No spoilers, but the last boss fight and ending's dialogue were top notch. I wanted to beat the last boss twice just to watch the ending again.

Gameplay:

There is a balance between Uncharted-like platforming, Tomb Raider puzzle solving, and fighting a plethora of enemies. There are dozens of types of enemies, ranging from the easy Mummy to towering Titans. There are also two ways to fight in this game. I personally enjoyed the classic whip-slashing action. However, a good bit of the game's bosses involve button timed events, which are fun, but stressful. I died mostly during these fights and a few times, it sent me back to the start of the battle and I was flat out frustrated. The most enjoyable aspects of the game for me involved Uncharted style climbing. It felt just as fluid as Uncharted (with the exception that you can only climb certain things versus virtually everything in Uncharted). Jumping from platform to platform is somewhat flawed and can be irritating, but that is not too often as you are mostly climbing and swinging.

Replay Value:

As you progress in the game, you are rewarded with different abilities. These abilities make replaying one of the games previous levels much easier and fun. There will be items/upgrades that you can't get in your first play through of a level, but after gaining a new ability such as double jump, you realize you can now go back and acquire it. That leads me to how the game is structured. There are twelve chapters in the game, with multiple levels scattered throughout each chapter. You can go back and play any level over again on one of four difficulties. Upon completing a level, you also can go back and beat its trial, which is an added challenge. Try to 110% the game(one thing to note: You can't 110% the game until you beat each level on Paladin (the most difficult) difficulty. However, you can go back and replay the levels on Paladin with your upgrades intact, making it manageable). Konami has also thrown in some Easter Eggs once the final stage is completed as well. You can slightly change the appearance of Gabriel but I won't say how.

Closure:

I was very pleased with Lords of Shadow. I am a Castlevania fan. But I never enjoyed the 3-D games. The N64 and PS2 games were awful to me and pushed me towards having a 2-D bias. However, this game has rebooted the series nicely and has set itself up for a sequel. While the majority of the game is not reminiscent of what we've come to love, nostalgia is still there with one-third of the game being related to the Vampires and the castle (clock-tower, garden maze and all). The new ideas are very welcomed and create a game that is not dependent merely on one's nostalgia, but stands on its own as a fun and exciting action game. Were there times where I was bored? Maybe in the first three chapters. Where there times where I was frustrated? Maybe playing a timed event boss battle for the first time. But was the game fair and balanced? Absolutely. If I were scoring the game, I would give it a 9.5 for a great, 20+ hour action game with a few camera glitches along with some repetitive action scenes and music. A must have for any Castlevania and action game fan. Feel free to ask me any questions, as I am nearly 110% complete with the game.

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I would need to clarify that I am not a long standing franchise enthusiast. My first and only Castlevania aside from this was SoTN. I never held a candle for the Belmont clan (pun intended) or for the franchise, aside from how awesome SoTN was. So in that regard, I am biased.

Moreover, this game is NOT perfect, so let me get the bad out of the way:

1. Camera angles. Very pretty, very engaging, very cinematic. And they have made me die a lot. Reminiscent of the Resident Evil franchise pre-4, and MGS3, static camera angles are...a love it or leave it issue. I like them. But to be honest, they can be a hindrance. Not being able to see a 2 ton Worg about to swipe me out of existence can be a setback.

2. Difficulty curve. I'm playing this on normal (I didn't want to breeze through it, but I didn't want to not get through the game either) and so far, I have lost my cool a few times. I want to call the difficulty curve merciless, but that's unfair. It is steep, though. This game will be quick to punish button mashers. There is an element of strategy in this game, having to switch around strategies according to enemies, cycling through combos, and cycling through shadow or light magic... it keeps you on your toes, and I would daresay that it is a characteristic missing from some of the titles that this game is compared to the most (such as GoW and DMC. This is just my opinion, maybe someone will argue that both franchises do have an element of strategy in their hack and slash, and I totally missed it. I welcome any disputes on the matter)

Those are, to me, the only scratches in an otherwise polished game. And I hesitate to call them a real detraction from this game.

This game is presumably a reboot of the franchise, which works for me, as I never had an attachment to the previously established canon. You are Gabriel Belmont (the name, taken from the hills from his childhood. Bel mont. Had never put those two together) He was an orphan taken in by the Brotherhood of Light, and was married to Maria ( I forget the name now, I hope this is right). Maria was slain, so far in my playthrough, under mysterious circumstances, and so he set forth to exact revenge.

The story set up, I will admit, is a bit shallow. But the game has been accused of being light on story telling. I would have to disagree. That the story telling was relegated to sequences at the beginning and end of each stage is not the most organic way to tell a story is true. But in this particular case, the way the story is woven, namely as a fairy tale of old, I think it works. There is much to be said of the voice acting and narrating on Patrick Stewart's part. At first the story is a bit too ' in medias rex' , but soon enough the blanks are filled out, and the intrigue builds up. I keep hearing the ending is phenomenal. We shall see.

The presentation, I will say, is not pushing any envelopes, but it is setting a mark for what action games can accomplish. The look of the game, albeit not groundbreaking, is simply awe inspiring. I had never seen a prettier snowy medieval landscape. The style and the aesthetic lends itself well to the sort of gothic undertone that always accompanied Castlevania games, but this time, in a grander fashion. The desolate, the desperate, the god forsaken aspect of some of the more European settings is simply entrancing, whereas some of the more fantastic settings, such as enchanted forests, forgotten cities and crypts break up the monotony of just seeing castles and towers for 20 hours without seeming out of place. The rain effects are some of the best I've ever seen in a game. The soundtrack is, I will say, among the best I've ever heard on a game. I don't know who Oscar Araujo is, or what he composed before this track, but he is now on my radar. It has a certain quality that aims for grandiose, while at the same time remaining memorable, and just works so well with the story telling. Fans of the series might be a bit disilussioned, because it's nothing like the Castlevania theme. I've read the original theme is hidden somewhere in the game. Haven't heard it yet.

The voice acting is top notch. I thought Robert Carlyle was a bit of a strange choice for taciturn Gabriel Belmont, but he's grown on me. My main issue was the accent at first. I always thought he should have a French accent, or, I dunno. Mr. Carlyle makes it work though. Patrick Stewart makes game text intended to narrate the bulk of the storyline sing. I have no idea how he does it. Some people are complaining that it's too similar to Oblivion. I don't see it. These samples of acting are better, in my opinion. Jason Isaacs is in the game as well, but I haven't bumped into him yet.

The gameplay itself is the strong suit of this game. The control scheme is one of the best and most intuitive I've yet to find on an action game. I wondered if they would do this thing where you can control the whip with one analog stick, but that would lend itself to disaster, in hindsight. Mercurysteam made it simple: jump, area attack, direct attack, secondary weapon. Done. It seems restrictive, but I assure you...there's something about less is more, that just makes this set up wow you. The camera will sometimes work against you (happens to me anyway) when trying to time a block for a parry, but other than that, the control is great, and the whip mechanics are pretty much near-perfect. The whip is a seriously underrated weapon in video games. Seriously.

A lot of people are, again, comparing the action to GoW or to DMC. Back when Dante's Inferno came out, I played the demo first, and did not enjoy it, precisely because it felt like GoW: Renaissance style, and I couldn't shake that feeling that the game was so similar. I will admit that there ARE similarities, but the way the similarities are implemented just keeps the game feeling fresh: in GoW, you will fight multitudes of enemies at once, or a reduced number of stronger enemies at the same time, and depend a lot on dodging out of the way, and blocking in time, and absolutely brutal chain combos. Kratos is just set up that way, with the ability to keep hitting enemies throughout hundreds of hits. The chains, even though in principle are whiplike, in a sense Gabriel however will be confronted more often than not against enemies that will require more reaction than proaction I think in a sense this sets it apart, a BIT, from GoW. The platform actions of the game are somewhat less polished than the fighting, but the game never really veers into parkour action, and it is being compared more to Uncharted. I can see the similarities there, save for the presence of the whip which put Gabriel in far more acrobatic situations than Nathan Drake. Eventually you start acquiring new abilities (such as the ability to dash, and thus, do a long jump) which will break those similarities up somewhat. Some of the boss fights are comparable to Shadow of the Colossus. These are very similar, I can't say that there's something that sets Castlevania apart, save for the use of the whip to scale up the titanic bosses, but the similarity is not a bad one, in my opinion: Shadow of the Colossus was a great game, and I don't think that its brand of action had ever been repeated to say that now that Castlevania made use of the similar sequences is cliche.

Overall, this game might be a sum of other action games, and in a way, it's true. The parts that are being summed up into this game however, do not feel segmented (ie, I never felt " oh, now I'm playing Uncharted, oh, now it's Shadow of the Colossus). It always feels like playing Castlevania, and the feeling is quite epic.

Buy Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Now

So far this game has caught me off guard. This is not an exact clone of "God of War." Although the gameplay is very similar, the style and atmosphere are completely different. Rather than greek mythology you have gothic monsters and settings. I'm personally enjoying this more so than I did "God of War." I like the werewolves, vampires, and ghouls much more than I like medusas, cyclops, and cerebus. Also, so far this game seems to be more difficult than the "God of War" series. You really have to make use of that dodge button. But as one reviewer already said, don't worry it's not nearly as difficult as "Demon's Souls." I'll be updating this review once I finish the game. But so far I will say that it's turning out to be a great game. Easily as good (if not better)as god of war.

Oh yeah, and don't listen to those couple review websites who gave this game a 7.5 out of 10. So far I'm saying this game deserves no less than an 8.8 out of 10, although by the time I'm finished I'm betting that I'll feel it deserves a 9.5 out of 10. Yeah its gameplay is similar to god of war, but what game doesn't draw inspiration from other games? Practially all FPS games are alike, but you don't here people crying and complaining every time a new one comes out... do you? And practically all sandbox games are similar to the GTA series, but once again no one seems to care. Castlevania is doing nothing different here. They are using a winning formula (God of war) and improving on it. Just like "Halo" used the exact same first person perspective from "Doom" but made improvements on it. Bottom line is we can't expect every new game to reinvent the genre. Ok enough of the preaching. Anyways, so far I recommend this game to anyone looking for a gothic adventure.

****UPDATE: I wanted to share more of my feelings about this game now that I've progressed a bit further. I'm now beginning the 4th chapter (I know it's not that far, but I'm in college full-time and I'm busy with work). This game has me hooked so far. Amazing boss battles (and lots of them), great soudtrack, awesome action gameplay, it's all just great. I've just finished the land of lycans (werewolves) and now I'm heading into the land of vampires... very excited! This is one of the best games to come out for a while. If you like action games and gothic themes then you owe it to yourself to pick this one up, it's amazing so far. I will conclude this review once I finish the game (not sure when that will be since I'm so tied up with school, I hardly have time to play).

********Review Conclusion: Ok I have just completely finished this game. Castlevania LOS was a great experience all around. I would personally rate this game a 9.2 out of 10. It has a good blend of action, puzzle, and platformer. There are tons of different monsters to fight in this game, extremely varied. I don't think I've ever played a game with so many boss fights. The music here is beautiful, and at times I stopped playing just to listen to it. This game really does feel epic, and Gabriel Belmont is a character that I was rooting for the entire time. Also, I wanted to remind you that if you play this game make sure that you wait for the credits to roll when you beat it. After the credits are done rolling you get a good idea of what the sequel will be like (and it's going to be pretty crazy). Now I can hardly wait for the next Castlevania game.

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Castlevania Lords of Shadow is simply put not a Castlevania game. Yes there are nods to the previous series but this is a reboot not a sequel. That shouldn't scare anyone away though as this is a great albeit flawed beginning to a new saga.

First we'll start off with the presentation. The graphics and music are top notch. The diverse and beautiful environments look amazing. The graphics are only topped by the sweeping musical score that adds a lot of intensity to the action. There is however one complaint that I have in this department and that is Patrick Stewart. I love him as an actor but he added way too much drama to his character and it was way too over the top. I hope that he can redeem himself if he is in any more games in the franchise.

The gameplay overall is solid. Yes it does play like a God of War clone but the core combat is without complaint. You unlock new powers and combos as the game progresses to keep your interest in the combat. Though it does lack variety the first few hours as the game developers kept most of the cool weapons and combos for later in the game. You have two rage modes that can be used at any time and are replenished by killing multiple enemies in a row without being hit. One of them fills your health bar with ever crack of your chains and the other simply does more damage.

Another main part of the game play is platforming. The game seems to copy Uncharted here and does it pretty well. Yes there are times when you don't know where to jump to and others when you can't seem to land on a platform correctly. These times are not that frequent but the platforming is certainly not that responsive or intuitive at times.

The Boss battles while epic are mostly your run of the mill block, dodge, and counter attack type of gameplay. If you think that sounds bad wait until you hear what the other type is. There are four or five bosses that require you to crawl on them and hit critical areas to take them down. Now this is pretty common in GOW style games but the enemies shake ever ten seconds and you have to hold the R2 button to stop from falling off. It gets really frustrating when you have almost beaten a boss just for them to knock you off and you have to do that last part over again.

The puzzles in the game range from fun and challenging to ridiculously hard. I had to look up a few myself and I normally stay away from walkthrough guides. Sometimes they simply don't give you enough information to complete the puzzle unless you use trial and error. In the end most of the puzzles feel like a road block instead of a fun distraction.

The final piece of the puzzle is the story. The game comes out of the gate quickly and you invest in Gabriel's plights, but then after the first few hours the story really drops off and not much character development is made until the final chapter. When I read about this game I thought this was going to be its strength but it turns out to be its biggest weakness. Yes I loved the ending and I wanted more after the game was over but the middle section of the game was downright boring at times and I had trouble keeping interest. As a result Gabriel was not really that developed as a protagonist, and I hope that they change that in future installments.

Overall Lords of Shadow was a fun 15 hour campaign, but it also left a lot to be desired. The story was never really that strong and the game play was not brilliant or original enough to completely save the game. If you like GOW or hack and slash type games then pick this one up when the price goes down. It is a fun game but without a story to keep you hooked I had trouble staying interested.

Rating 3.5/5

Want Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Discount?

What is supposed to be a reboot of the beloved Castlevania series will leave fans confused and maybe a little angry. Disguised under the Castlevania title is a different game entirely. Lords of Shadow doesn't feature any of the common gameplay mechanics or a story you would expect from this series. What you will find is a decent action adventure game with beautiful visuals and a generic storyline.

Lords of Shadow introduces Gabriel Belmont, a member of the holy order known as "the Brotherhood of Light." The Brotherhood are sworn to protect the innocent from an evil darkness that is a constant threat to the world. Gabriel sets out to destroy this evil, but also has a more personal missionto kill the ones responsible for the death of his lover (where have we heard this before?).

After about five minutes of this game you will no doubt ask yourself "Where the hell is the castle?!" Well, there isn't one till the very end!!. Lords of Shadow is set in an open world environment with level to level progression and doesn't allow a free roam map exploration (Metriodvania) like previous games in the series. The game does encourage backtracking to reach previous unreachable items once you upgrade your skills, but I found the benefits of doing so are not worth the time.

If you've played any of the God of War titles, the fighting mechanics are more or less the same. Gabriel is equipped with a chained cross weapon that will extend with light and heavy attacks. Killing creatures will gain you experience points used to unlock new weapon upgrades, combos and magic abilities. Even with all the combos unlocked, I found the best way to kill mini bosses and small creatures is by spamming light and heavy attacks while using the roll ability to evade enemies. The magic system is broken down into light and dark magic, with light magic being heals and dark increasing your melee damage.

Marlyn Manson?

Boss encounters vary some are extremely fun and others are just stale. This game features a lot of mini boss encounters in which you must use the environment around you to defeat them. Bigger bosses (just like Shadow of the Colossus) have you climbing around to hit weak spots on their body while they try to shake you off. These fights would have been more exciting if we hadn't experienced similar encounters in so many other games. I was also very disappointed with the last boss, SATAN! Not only was it not Dracula, but I couldn't help but laugh that he looks like a singer in a heavy metal band that isn't wearing any clothes!

Lords of Shadow features some of the best graphics I've seen in any game. Developers did a spectacular job creating a dark environment with such high level of detail. Each level will feel entirely different from the last, ensuring your eyes wont be bored through level progression. In addition, climbing on walls and using your cross as a grappling hook was an enjoyable addition to the game, this really made me appreciate the level design and architecture used in each level.

Captain Jean Luc Picard

Lets not forget the appearance of Patrick Stewart as Zobek, Gabriel's Brotherhood companion who is also the narrator though the game. Stewart does a great job with the narration but gets a little melodramatic with his acting.

If you're a fan of the old Castlevania titles, I wouldn't suggest this game. You wont find anything related to the franchise other than the games title and the family name Belmont. I would suggest this title if you enjoy action adventure games such as God of War or Shadow of the Colossus. What this game really lacks is identity. Developers did a great job with level and graphic design but failed to take any innovative steps with the gameplay. Castlevanias' 3D titles have been severely lacking. I hope in the next installment they go back to the 2D landscape with castle exploration that made the original Castlevania what it is todaya CLASSIC.

Presentation: 7

Not associated with other installments of the franchise but a fun action adventure title.

Graphics: 9

Stunning visuals with some frame rate hiccups.

Sound : 7

A great performance by Patrick Stewart but a little too melodramatic.

Gameplay: 6

God of War gameplay with Shadow of the Colossus Boss fights.

Lasting Appeal: 7

A very long game that encourages backtracking for unlockable treasures.

Violent Score: 7 (out of 10)

more over yonder.

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Sony PS3 Controller Decal Style Skin - Camouflage Red

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All in all it is a great accessory to your controller and makes my controller look bad a**. However ever if your looking for a more vinyl/plastic skin this is not for you. It is more of a thick sticker that sticks real well.

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The decal came in pretty quickly and was really easy to put on the controller and it looks great on it.

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XCOM: Enemy Unknown

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XCOM:EU is a great game. I played the original and many other strategy games in the past. This is a full, long review. It may have minor spoilers. I will cover as much as possible. I give Objective reviews whenever I can, not Subjective. I will state my personal opinions when I can. This review may be more subjective for me as I really like this game.Bear in mind XCOM:EU has immense replayability as long as you like turn-based tactical battles. The strategy base part of the game is awesome as well.

Graphics

Unreal engine, but they spent a lot of time on the graphics and they look terrific! Only a few minor glitches here or there. The Deco DLC is awesome, not yet available as of this writing (it was a preorder bonus).

Sound

The sound is good, with voices for the soldiers. The music is not as eerie as in the original game, but it is still very good. When aliens are being fought the music picks up for the action. Very nice sound.

Early thoughts

The game is pretty solid, I only had one freeze up for the PS3. The base is very cool, and tactical is as good as ever. Bear in mind, the official Strategy Guide is NOT going to give tactical training! You need to become a good player by playing and figuring out the strategies, that is why it is called a STRATEGY Game. I will give a few tips where I can. I beat this game in two days, took roughly 24 hours, and I missed a lot of sleep.

Difficulty Easy/Normal or Classic/Impossible?

If you are new to this type of game, and especially to XCOM in general, I suggest at least Easy mode. On Easy mode there will be less threat to deal with and more special missions to help you. Also, the alien timetable will be a little longer, so you will have an extra monther or so before fighting the toughest monsters. Aliens are not easier to fight though, they have the same health and stats as Normal mode.

On Normal mode it took me 8 game months to win. I lost one country early on, Germany, mainly because South Africa asked for a Satellite they really did not need. Normal mode is just that, nothing differrent. This level of difficulty is the most fun in my opinion.

Classic and Imposiible difficulties really crank up the action. More enemies in missions and all the aliens get upgraded. Most get +10 Aim (they hit you easier), +10 Defense (-10 for you to hit them), and extra health. Even Thin Men will have 4 to 6 health, not 3. This means Grenades are no longer 100% to get kills. Less starting funds, Start with only one base facility (Satellite Uplink), More enemies, countries give fewer scientists/engineers.

Accessory slot

You get one accessory slot. The Support soldier can eventually have two. What should you bring to the battle? Early on you have no choice Grenades. Useful especially if you are new to XCOM style tactical battle. To be honest, this is the ONLY time I use grenades.

Scope or Grenade or Nano-fiber/Chitin Armor?

Scope. Scope. Scope! Once you get the Scope, you should seriously think about all soldiers having one. Nano-fiber armor gives +2 armor, VERY useful early in the campaign when you only have Body armor (+1 armor), as Nano-Fiber's +2 gives a total of +3 armor and -maykeep a soldier out of the infirmary when hit by Sectoid/Thin Man pistol fire, although critical hits may still happen. Chitin armor is rare to acquire, and I use it on Assault soldiers. With the best standard armor and Chitin armor my Assault can have 9 life + 14 armor, which when combined with the Assault's Extra Conditioning skill will give a total of 27 health in combat.

Scope or Mind Shield?

Mind Shields are hard to get and thus rare, but take them in the Final Mission for your low-Will soldiers as much as possible.

Early Moves

Early in the game you need to concentrate on gettng as many satellites up as possible. This will hopefully lower Alert levels in the country the satellite is deployed and will increase your monthly income. Countries covered will also give scientists and/or engineers per month. When deploying satellites, alert levels are Top Priority, not the continent or credit bonus of the country. Save your satellites until near the end of the month to help respond to Alien alert activity. This is very important as it will allow you to have the most flexibility to repond to Alert levels.

The Alien Containment facility can wait. In my opinion, this facility is best built much later in the game. It takes up energy and resources better used for satellite facilities.

Workshops are neccessary to raise your engineer numbers, but only so you can build more satellite uplinks. Laboratories are nearly useless, unless playing on higher difficulty settings, then they are useful because research speeds are much longer.

One power generator + one thermal generator + one elerium generator, placed all in a row, will give enough power for the whole game.

All facilities get the +1 bonus if placed next to each other, either horizontally or vertically.

SQUAD

My squad typically has 1 Support, 1 Assault, 2 Heavy and 2 Sniper. This is what I use but other players favor Assault more. Your squad composition is up to you.

Support

The weakest offensive unit but the most relied on for support. Eventually can have 3 Medikits. NOTE: All soldiers can carry a medikit as an accessory!

Assault

Total offense. I believe making the first enemy reaction shot miss is best, that way you can lead with this offensive tank. Can have up to 27 health, Awesome.

Heavy

I always go for +100% damage against Robots. VERY useful when facing the tough robot enemies. I also like Shredder Rocket and 2 Rockets. The capability to take 2 shots in a row is also very nice.

Sniper

I like Squad Sight as it allows me to shoot at anything the squad sees. Less useful with Hover armor, but still a good skill. Double Tap is also awesome. I do not prefer the Sniper that can move and shoot, so I take +2 pistol damage.

Tactical Battles

Stay together but not all grouped up. If you can't Dash from one side of the formation to the other you are too far apart. Use two mini-squads of support/heavy/sniper and assault/heavy/sniper (different depending on your choice of soldiers or if main soldiers are in the infirmary). When getting ready to enter a doorway, have each mini-squad stand to the SIDE of the doors, never IN FRONT. You could try it the other way but there are certain encounters that may end Very Bad. Take high percentage shots. Sometimes the game will make you miss No Matter What, that's just the way it is.

Move forward slowly! Use Overwatch as much as possible! Almost never Dash to move forward, and only Dash when near 100% certain the coast is clear. I cannot stress this enough. Tactical battles are long, patient affairs.

Use cover as often as you can! Although soldiers in full cover can still be hit, get as much defense as you can. Defensive bonuses make it harder to get hit, and you need every advantage you can acquire.

Interceptors

Emp or Plasma? Well, there are two ships you will encounter that are Main Story ships. No matter what you do, these ships will still have a good complement of soldiers. You can always get more artefacts from other missions, squad survivability is paramount so go with Plasma or the late tech Interceptor weapon. Use the EMP until you get Plasma or Fusion.

Grey Market

Almost everything you bring back from battle is useful. Only sell useless items on the Grey Market. Do not sell corpses as almost all have a use. Eventually some can be sold. Early in the campaign it is ok to sell some things, but usually unwise. For example, in my current game I have 4 UFO Power sources and 4 Navigations left. I built several key units and have no more real need for these items. However, they would be needed if I lost Firestorms. And these numbers are for most of the game! If I had sold any of these items I would not have been able to build all the stuff I needed. Therefore, Be Carefull selling on the Grey Market!

OVERALL

XCOM:EU is a great game. I am certain I may not have included everything I wanted, but this review is very long. I hope it all helps.

I LOVE THIS GAME!

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I remember hearing about the original Game a long while ago in the 90's. Never had the chance to play the original. I bought a copy of Xcom: Enemy Unknown and it was exactly what I was looking for, a good strategy-turn based game experience. You get a lot of stuff here, yet you need to get familiar with the controls, they can be a little tricky to get used to. The graphics are OK, this game is based in the "unreal engine" so the graphics are alright, not bad, not great they are just fine. I really like Firaxis Games, specially those where Sid Mayer is involved and that is the case in this one. I am really amazed by the game mechanics, it plays really really well, and it will offer you a good challenge. There was a mission where I return to my base with only one soldier alive! but heck! it was SO exciting!

The story is just amazing and very very long. I honestly believe it is impossible to finish the whole game in one sitting. a warning though, put attention and read your messages well while you are at your command center, you can miss part of the story. I'm not an avid fan of buying game guides but the one for this game (it is short and cheap you can get it here at Amazon) can help you keep your sanity. The game will challenge you with six "Phases" or campaigns and it keeps you hooked-on; this can easily take days to complete. The challenge increases as you keep advancing and you need to balance your team strengths, the amount of research you invest in, how you are spending your money and putting attention when there are project priorities to be done at your engineering and research labs, these are all important things, but you can't do them all at the same time! you need to prioritize and this is what makes the game so fascinating by opening so many different game options. There are SO many options to choose from, but all is based in the strategy you pursue and where you decide to establish your command center or op's center. The game can be pretty challenging, playing with a crew of 4 soldiers is quite a challenge, you can add a maximum of 6 soldiers to your rooster, and you can balance the battle-field choosing the kind of soldiers you want, like a sniper, a heavy, assault, and support, etc.

The amount of replayability in this game is just insane, you can rack up an insane amount of hours, add that to the options you have to sell stuff you don't need in the "Gray Market" to earn some bucks, train and promote your soldiers, decide the kind of equipment you want to give them before you sent them out to a mission, you can customize your base, when to upgrade your satellites, participate or not in different kind of missions, and for those interested in Multiplayer you also have it here.

If you start your game in "easy" there is a tutorial for those folks new to X-com, the normal level is fair and if you are familiar enough with XCOM and like to suffer you can decide to play at the "Classic and Impossible" game modes. You also get an option called "Enable Ironman", if you select this option for the "Normal, Classic or Impossible" game modes, the auto-save feature is activated, so if you loose a soldier or an officer you really like there is no going back to your previous save to try to "play" the same character, it is gone for good! That is another thing you learn early on in the game, don't get too attached to your soldiers 'cause they are going to die, and die often! If you pre-order the game you get some goodies you can download from the Play Station store.

I am so happy a game like this came to the market, it was about time to offer the players a game where you can have a good solid strategy challenge. If you don't mind getting used to the game controls (it will get easier as you keep playing) this game is a great experience, a must buy for those who enjoy a good strategy challenge.

Thank you Sid Mayer, Firaxis and 2K for such a fun game!

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++++++ BACKGROUND ++++++

X-Com: Enemy Unknown is a remake of the classic game X-Com: UFO Defense (UFO: Enemy Unknown outside North America) released in 1994 and is considered one of the top ten games of all time for the computer.

There are currently two re-makes currently undergoing development to be published by 2K. The first, known as XCOM, will be produced by Irrational games and depicts the XCOM universe as a First Person Shooter in the 1950's although recent announcements suggest it has been moved to the 1960's and will be squad based combat.

The second, X-Com: Enemy Unknown, was developed by Firaxis games and consists of the game I am currently reviewing. Firaxis are veteran developers of the genre of strategy games due to development of games such as Alpha Centauri and Civilization under the guidance of Sid Meier, one of the companies co-founders and creators of such classic games as Sid Meier's PIRATES!, Civilization, and Railroad Tycoon.

++++++ GAMEPLAY & COMBAT ++++++

X-Com: Enemy Unknown is a return to the world of single player strategy games that are few and far in-between in this world of first person multi-player shooters. Gameplay is divided in-between two areas; management and battle skirmishes.

In management, you build up your bases, upgrade facilities, preform research and development of weapons all the while monitoring your finances which always feel like a heavy burden you are carrying upon your shoulder you just cannot escape.

The skirmishes are where the meat and bones of the game lie and where you may spend a majority of your time. Simple choices you make in a turn-based fashion have an overall effect on the outcome of the battle. If you slip and make a poor choice the computer will make you feel that error. It may seem fun to go around and annihilating everything in your pass by using high explosive weapons but strategy requires you to capture and collect your enemies bodies and weapons. To get close requires strategy, planning, and luck several moves out. A well thought out strategy and turn is the key to success.

You spend your time recruiting, customizing, and developing your soldiers while watching them rise through the ranks after each successful mission becoming attached in the process only to have them fall in combat....and fall they shall. Your memorial wall will be filled by the midpoint of the game from the losses you will sustain. With the close intimacy of you and your men, the loss of a high ranking officer is a devastating moment to be played through and experience first hand.

The gameplay, compared to the original, has been streamlined but that is expected as the fact the game has been customized to fit the multiple of consoles it has been released for as well as the fact the field of gaming has changed a tremendous amount in the eighteen years since the original was released. The console does play rather well compared to its keyboard/mouse counterpart on the PC.

++++++ GRAPHICS & PRESENTATION ++++++

The graphics are, obviously, an improvement over its 1994 counterpart. I have had several issues with camera angels. Also, the action shots that you endure that became popular since Fallout 3 are entertaining if somewhat repetative. The skirmishes provide a very destructive environment that will leave the battlefield resembling swiss cheese that was burnt in a microwave.

++++++ CHALLENGE ++++++

The game is challenging but is not at the point where you feel as if you need to throw the controller at the wall because you have reached an in pass in gameplay.

Some have stated that this game is more difficult than the original. The reason why is the original X-Com in 1994 contained an error so all difficulty levels were the same. Later X-Com games were noted for their increased difficulty because this issue was fixed in sequels and later editions of the game.

++++++ STORY ++++++

The story is, overall, engrossing throughout the game and provides motivation to make it to the finish to see the end result. Who doesn't enjoy a good Human VS the Evil Aliens story?

++++++ CONCLUSION ++++++

This game is worthwhile of the title "X-Com" even with the high expectations and standards set before it by the classic "X-Com" of 1994. This game has met and exceeded the challenges set before it.

Highly recommended for those that enjoy turned based strategy games as well as those that desire something different than the dozens of first person shooter games that now littler the video game marketplace.

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I played the original X-COM a bunch using dosbox before purchasing the new one so I could compare.

The new one is very faithful to the original in almost all the ways that matter, while streamlining the things that don't. I would award 4.5 stars because it doesn't do this perfectly and suffers a little from 'consolization'. But it gets more right than wrong. If you liked the first, you will almost certainly like this re-creation and I suspect most will find it better.

The new one removes TUs in favor of an action counting system. This overall better and more streamlined. It's a bit less flexible than the TU system. In particular firing and then moving is generally not an option (except with one skill that the (I think) Assault class can get).

The soldiers also now remember their loadout from mission to mission, which removes the major wart of having to hand move all the equipment around at the start of each mission. The class system aids with this, and also provides a better and more flexible way to customize your soldiers abilities than training them the way you did in the first. My only complaint is that you can't load up with extras, which has led to me almost completely giving up on grenades as the inventory slot is far too valuable to be occupied by a single-use mediocre damage area of effect weapon.

Also, instead of building several bases and having to manage them all you now just build satellites to monitor particular countries and have it as a given that you have interceptor hangers in various world regions. No more fiddling with building storage areas, living quarters, equipment inventories and headcount. Also, all the first level eqiupment is essentially free.

But some strategic flexibility has been lost. In the original, it's possible to avoid combat much of them time. You engage in just enough to keep all the countries happy while using your workshop to manufacture items for sale. This is a much less viable strategy in the new one as you can only sell what your workshop produces when a country makes a special request (which happens rarely) and many workshop items take resources that can only be obtained from alien spaceships and bases.

The feel of the centerpiece of the game, the turn-based tactical combat remains very much the same. There are some armor types (Ghost armor, Skeleton armor) that offer tactical possibilities not present in the first. And enemies that have much more sophisticated tactics as well. The game greatly rewards careful planning and creative use of the various skills your soldiers possess.

I still can't figure out how you could possibly stun an ethereal though. Those arc-things are far less capable than either the stunsticks (they aren't a weapon and so can't be fired like one at the end of the assault class' run-and-gun skill) and I have not yet found an equivalent to the stun bomb launcher.

So, as I said, I think this game is overall singificantly better than the original even if it does have a problem or two that prevent it from being perfect.

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I don't have a ton of experience with squad-based games, but this seems to be pretty well done in terms of game mechanics and tactical options available on the battlefield. Character development is fun, and I like the way they chose to represent the base too, although I feel like there's room for improvement in terms of making the player feel like he's actually inside each room. I find the dialogue a bit stiff; I'm coming off of playing Mass Effect, so maybe I'm setting the bar too high, but there is a notable decrease in the quality of the writing. There are some imperfections as far as depicting individual shots; shotguns appear to shoot through walls, rifles might not really be aimed at the target but they still manage to fire and kill, etc. These are minor and don't severely impact gameplay, but I think they're worth noting.

My one real complaint is that the game freezes frequently. I've managed to mitigate this by turning on autosave, so I never lose that much progress. But I find that particularly after missions, while the game is loading the debrief screen, it will simply continue to show the loading screen (e.g. the SkyRanger flying in the night sky) indefinitely and never successfully load the next screen. This is annoying, and I understand they've already patched a similar problem on the PC version, so maybe an update on PS3 is forthcoming.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this game, and would be a very happy camper if they fixed some of the bugs I've mentioned.

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God of War III

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List Price: $29.99
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Thanks for reading my first review here on Amazon. I normally don't review stuff like this online but I can't get this game out of my head. I've had my jaw hit the floor more times in the first couple hours than I've ever had in an entire game before. When people describe this game as epic, they are not just using some cliche word everyone on the internet throws around. The cover of God of War 3 should be in the dictionary next to the word.

First, I highly suggest anyone new to the series to go ahead and pick up the God of War Collection. It is some of the best the PS2 has to offer for only $30. It will bring you up to date on the story and help you get aquainted with the combat system so you can jump right into part 3 no problem. This brings me to my next point, difficulty. I'm hearing the term "button-masher" thrown around quite a lot in regards to this game and while this might be true for the easy and normal difficulties, it couldn't be further from the truth on Titan (hard) mode. Having beaten the two previous games recently, I started GoW3 on Titan difficutly. There is no way you can spam the same combos and expect to make it anywhere. For those familiar with the previous instances of God of War, or for you hack-n-slash pros out there, I highly suggest starting off on Titan mode. This will provide a much greater challenge and get you ready to play on Chaos mode after you've unlocked it.

For the most part, the gameplay remains unchanged from the previous titles. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? However, there are a few differences that greatly enhance the experiece. For starters, the QTEs now put the button prompts in relation to their location on the controller (triangle appears at the top of the screen, X on the bottom ect.). This allows the player to view whatever violent act Kratos is performing at the time without having the button prompt cover it all. Another great change is the ability to switch weapons on the fly, mid combo. This allows for a lot of creativiy to be used in how you dispatch each enemy. Lastly, one of my favorite additions to the combat system is the combat grapple. Kratos will fling both blades into an enemy and pull himself towards them. This greatly increases combo variety and makes it easier to string together lots and lots of hits.

When it comes to presentation in video games, God of War 3 takes the cake. You can tell a lot of work was put into making the game look amazing. I must have spent the first 10 minutes just staring at how detailed Kratos looks. The boss battles and level design redefine what scale is in games today. Some people might be put off by the fixed camera, but this allows the directors of the game to give you breathtaking views and truly show off all the hard work they put into making this one of the most visually pleasing experiences you will ever have. All the trailers and screens you could watch won't hold a candle to how this game looks live on a nice 1080p TV set.

In closing, God of War 3 is one of most amazing experiences you can find in gaming today. Other games might have a little more depth to their combat systems, but none of them put together the entire package of gameplay, graphics, sound, story, and overall fun. If you've been on the edge about picking up a PS3, let Kratos make that decision for you. Do yourself a favor and BUY this game!!!

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If you don't then you will be missing out on, easily, one of GREATEST games of all time! I thought I was blown away by Uncharted 2. I was but I am even more so with God Of War 3. Unbelievably, God Of War 3 floored me from the 30 minute opening sequence to the mind blowing finale. How did Sony Santa Monica pull this off? The SCALE of this game will boggle the mind and make your jaw hit the floor! When I first played the demo some 3 months ago I was in awe. After having played through every luscious drop of GOW 3 I am spellbound beyond belief. If I could only use one word to describe this game: EPIC! Remember the old home arcade system Neo Geo and SNK's motto for it "Bigger, Badder, Better"? This applies to GOW 3 in spades.

Upon first sight of GOW 3 you'll notice that the high def graphics are probably the best, on any system anywhere, computer gaming rigs included. Sony really tapped into the "true" power of the PS3 with this one. Some of the things I saw in this game is making me think it was all a dream because it just isn't possible in games, right? Wrong. Seeing the gigantic titans filling up the whole screen in perfect graphical splendor, on a 50 in. plasma, all the while Kratos is scaling it, and fighting a boss(Poseidon) on it, is completely amazing. Gamers, this is what we live for! The detail of not just the titans, the environments, and the Ghost of Sparta himself, but the minor enemies, such as the skeleton warriors, is astonishing. And seeing 15 or so of these skeleton warriors pile on Kratos and then seeing him violently power them off is unbelievably cool and empowering. It almost makes you feel like a god! The sheer power you feel controlling Kratos and watching him annihilate everything in his path in the name of vengeance will cast a spell over you.

The combat control is much the same as before, if not better. In other words, the control is flawless and if ain't broke don't fix it philosphy applies here. There are timed button presses for the boss battles(quick timed events). And bosses there will be. Some of them are absolutely enormous, such as Hades. Dealing death to the bosses is quite a sight. Impale them. Check! Rip off body parts. Check! Let blood and guts flow like a river. Check! This is one of the goriest and most violently graphic games I've seen. EVER! Kratos can still have sex in GOW 3! Always a welcome addition. Even one scene with a goddess! I think what might impress me most besides the scale of the game, is the number of enemies that can be on screen at one time. At times, there had to be close to 50 or more on screen. That is incredible considering it's running at 60 FPS the entire time with no slowdown. All of that even when there are cyclopses and minotaurs on the same screen, along with a titan in the background. Ridiculously amazing!

The story, sadly, was the most disappointing part of the game. It seemed a bit convoluted; like too much was going on with too many different characters. The story is not bad mind you and it`s easy to follow, it just feels like it's taking a major backseat to everything else. Still, it takes nothing away from the greatness of GOW 3. The puzzles in the game are challenging without being overly so and some of them very clever and ingenious. More than a few I was a bit stumped by. All in all it took me about 10 to 12 hours to roll through this masterpiece. I don't really remember how long it took me to go through each of the first two, so I can't compare length. While a bit short, for my taste, it was still one hell of a magnificent ride! The camera still can't be controlled by the player, but that has never bothered me and I think it was put to even better use this time around. It seems the angles and various shots are Hollywoodesque, if that makes any sense.

Weapons! The Cestus easily steals the show of the several new ones that you'll earn. The Cestus is completely WICKED! The combo moves are spectacular and more so than ever before and you can now swap weapons on the D-pad in the middle of one. When surrounded by a bunch of baddies and knowing you have different button options to pound the pulp out of them is especially gratifying. The use of the bow and arrow is easy and very useful. Very cool shooting the harpies with it and grabbing on to them to further your progress across chasms or to the top of places well out of your reach. I like the fact that now the bow quickly recharges after each use. I love being able to pick up enemies and charge with them, using them as a battering ram on other baddies. Completely awesome! Controlling the cyclops is amazing as well; swinging him around and pulping your enemies is gleefully sadistic. It must be experienced! You level up your health and magic much the same way as the two previous GOW's via feathers, stones, and now, minotaur horns.

The music is excellent! But hasn't the music always been excellent in the series? The voice acting IMHO is top notch. Seems even better than before. The action and pace of the game are relentless. Something new(and amazing) and unique is always happening to keep you glued to the screen; even if it happens only once. There is so much more I could go on talking about with this stunning, amazing, and breathtaking game known as God Of War 3, but I`d be here for a while and then you`d be bored;)

I don't care what genre of games you like or whether or not you even like GOW 3 type games, this is a game that absolutely MUST be experienced. I won't say this is my favorite game of all time, but it's right there at the top with Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, Metal Gear 4, and Resident Evil 4. I don't care if you have to get an extra job(gulp), rob a convenient store(gasp) or steal if off your friend(yeah!) you have got to get this SOON! I've been playing games for 30+ years(since the days of Colecovision) and I've never been this AMAZED by a game! There is so much diversity, so much to see, so much so tightly packed in such a spectacular game that it will make you wonder how they pulled it oof. Folks, the next generation of gaming has arrived and I am stunned, blown away, mesmerized and spellbound by what Sony Santa Monica created. My hat goes off to them for they are a TRULY talented team! Kudos of accolades go to Stig Asmussen for his brilliant direction of this game and for making it so much more than I thought possible.

This seems to be the end of this GOW saga and I hope we'll see more of Kratos in the future, because this is only a scratch on the video game surface of the great things the future could hold for the Ghost of Sparta. I am truly moved!

It's a 10/10 experience!

ARE YOU GOING TO JOIN THE SPARTAN ARMY NOW?

SIDE NOTE(or bottom note) I'm not sure why this game was released earlier than it's scheduled March 16th release date. I had originally preordered GOW 3 on Amazon, but after I found I could get it nearly a week earlier on eBay I cancelled my Amazon pre-order. Not that I'm complaining about any of that. The same thing happened with Modern Warfare 2. I'd like to know how people are getting these games so early. The guy I bought my copy from on eBay said he'd had his copies since March 6th,. He wouldn't elaborate as to where he got them. I received mine on March 11th. I had to pay and arm and a leg for it, but it was worth every dime.

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I have seen my share of games throughout my life. I'm almost 30 years old and video games have been one of my life's greatest hobbies. I have enjoyed playing video games more than anything else. But never did I dreamed more than 15 yrs ago when playing in an Game Gear from Sega that I would experience such a thing.

God of War 3 is simply breathtaking. It is as epic as any movie. It has no equal in the video game world.

The graphics, the music, the superb gameplay everything combines into a massive juggernaut that will rock you to the core. GOW3 deserves its place among the all time greats like Tetris, Super Mario, etc.

In the hack-n-slash genre, it reigns supreme. In the all-time great, it can be debated if it takes the top spot, but no one will leave this game feeling the same.

We live in a truly amazing World where a treasure such as this can be purchased for such a paltry sum.

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I got a PS3 for this game, great investment; reality i am just starting the game, but man in the first chapter is bar none the best graphics i have ever seen in a video game, yes even Uncharted 2 and Mass Effect2 ; and the gameplay is godly smooth, well i will update the review later on , but until now is incredible and awesome, i never thought i will see this types of greatness in my time. Buy it guys , if you dont own a PS3 is about time you get it , you are missing one unique experience.

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+ 5 Bonus Stars For The Blood-Spalttered RAGE Simulator!

BEST GOD OF WAR GAME / BEST PS3 GAME

SONY, we who are about to play, Salute You. For taking a legendary amount of badassedness, and cramming it all in one game. No one else in the market is giving us naked 1080p nipples, just because it's sexy funny. Another game maker would have taken the Greek Mythology idea and given us a PG-13 experience with casual puzzles and no blood. But GOD OF WAR became HARDCORE. You could have dumbed it down like Halo to get super mass market sales... But you stayed true to your Ambition. Because you made this game with your balls, I'm buying it NEW, at LAUNCH, with MONEY. Please accept my cold hard cash, and my thanks. GOD3 is another reason why I'm a Playstation fan-for-life.

HARDCORE FANTASTIC ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCE!

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Kung Fu Rider (Motion Control)

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List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $4.99
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Contrary to other reviewer's comment, I find the game pretty awesome (most probably because of the Hong Kong street scenes that feel 200% home). It takes a bit of a learning curve to master the moves, but they are never non-responsive. There is also a lot of replaying value as the "routes" can be very different every time, if you choose to do it the non-conventional way.

Consider it like a more grown up version of locoroco, that's what this game is about. Not for the serious serious gamer, but completely lovely if you want to get wacky surprises on the rolling lane very true-to-life depiction of Hong Kong too.

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As the first game I've acquired since buying a MOVE I have to say I'm pretty pleased. If you go into this game expecting it to be a simple, arcade game in line with Crazy Taxi mixed with a bit of a beat-em-up, then you won't be disappointed. It's pretty fun and while the medal searching free missions are a bit noggin scratching at times it's still a good time waster if you can find it for under $10. One last note, it only has 12 trophies as it originally was to be a PSN game so if not being able to Platinum a retail title bothers you that much word of warning; for all the rest that just want to have fun then get it!

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It has been floating around that this is one of the worst games ever for the PS3. Making it easily the worst Move game ever. But in reality it is a pretty awesome game. First off this game IS gimmicky by all means could of been done on the normal controller even most of the "move" movements. But thats the point of the move right? Just a different way to play. This game is truly just zanny and fun. It like an old arcade game in spirit mixed with Crazy Taxi or Jet Set Radio. No story line (but who needs one) just racing down hill away from the mob... on anything and everything with wheels. The game may just be to hard to be casual and to casual to please those who are considered the "hardcore" gamer. People seem to be all relating that back to the controls themselves. You can go to the options menu and adjust when your character jumps and boosts. After I did that I had no problems it just all became about vigilance and reflexes.

So who should buy this game? Anyone who loves the classic going for a high score game and likes a good challenge. Also who can find it for like 25 bucks or lower because this SHOULD of been a PSN title. The Trophy support and all the content point to that. 40 dollars is honestly to much. It seems they even gave you all the launch Move demos on disc with it to try and ease the pain of the price tag. I think this was just another game to BULK up the releases on the day Move launched. Just like Eye Pet where the normal game was just going to use a pad the game came with and the controller but now in the U.S. its a Move title.

In the end I give this game such a high score to curb the bad reviews its getting. Its still a great game and I have no regrets buying it. But I DID NOT and WOULD NOT pay 40 for it. There should be normal controller support (could be patched) and it should of just been a PSN title and/or just been cheaper in the first place(shop around).

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I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I did run out and buy a PS3 Move wand and a game when it was first released. I debated whether or not to buy the Sports game for PS3 Move, but I already have Wii Sports and Sports Resort. So I decided to take a chance on Kung Fu Rider. I knew it was silly when I bought it, I mean... come on, racing on an office chair? I guess that mindless aspect of the game appealed to me. It's a fun game that incorporates a little of many other types of games. The graphics are Wii-like and it does seem a little like a demo to show what's possible with the Move wand (which is awesome!!!). Unfortunately, when the game wasn't as responsive to the Move wand as it should be, I figured it was just my inexperience. However, after gaining experience and reading other reviews, I've learned that sometimes the game inaccurately responds to movement of the wand, or doesn't respond at all, or responds when it shouldn't. That's disappointing. In hindsight, I wouldn't pay full price for it.

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The movements to control your chair are awkward and can be done lazily from a chair and a flick of the wrist. I wish there was more movement utilized in game play and a better story attached.

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Prince of Persia Trilogy HD

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List Price: $39.99
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I played Prince of Persia: Sands of Time back when it was on PS2 and loved it. I tried playing Warrior Within on PC but it wasn't fun playing with a mouse and keyboard, a console controller is key for this sort of game. Years later I heard that the story arc of the series was really good, so I wished I had kept trying Warrior Within and then played The Two Thrones, but was I really going to dig out the PS2 and play them when I was already playing amazing HD games on the PS3? Of course not.

The HD Trilogy solved this problem, and I was very excited to re-play SoT and finally play the remainder of the series. The games themselves are a lot of fun, however this HD remaster by Ubisoft has some serious bugs. The sound is pretty poor in SoT, it starts and stops mid-song, and it's rather distracting. But the BIG problem with this game is that it freezes my PS3. Right after the first save point I was wall-running and it froze. I couldn't even shut off the system with the PS button, I had to manually reboot the machine. I figured it was just one of those occasional freezes and re-loaded the game with little consideration of the event...until it froze again in the exact same spot.

I returned the game to the retailer and exchanged it for another copy. I re-loaded and this time it worked fine great!

...until it froze again, a couple of levels later. Again, when I was wall-running. It appears to be when you're wall-running and the game wants to show a tip at the bottom of the screen, for whatever reason, it can't handle it. I searched the boards and found many people had the same problem and it seems the fix is to disconnect the PS3 from the Network/Internet because any background downloading or Internet activity screws it up. I am writing this review to confirm that this does indeed fix the problem, and it's not a huge deal, but I don't believe I should have to do this in order to play a game.

SUMMARY: TURN OFF YOUR PS3 NETWORK CONNECTION BEFORE PLAYING THIS GAME OTHERWISE IT WILL PERIODICALLY FREEZE.

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I'm gonna level with you: This review will probably be a little tough to follow. Why? Because I both love and hate this trilogy of games, and I have even stronger feelings about this HD re-release. So let me give you a quick background:

* I believe "The Sands of Time" is a good game, but was badly overrated with all of its Editor's Choice, 9s and 10s, and Game-of-the-Year consideration back in 2003. It was always worth a gamer's time, but it was no masterpiece.

* "Warrior Within" is easily the most divisive game of this trilogy, and rightfully so. I don't hate the game, but I have some very strong criticisms of it.

* I actually think "The Two Thrones" is the best game of this collection, because it took the best aspects of the previous 2 games, and also innovated on the formula.

It's hard to know where to begin with this review. I'll get into some technical details, and then explore each individual game, and see where we end up.

TECHNICAL STUFF

All three games have been allegedly remastered. I say "allegedly" because I don't consider this an upgrade. "The Sands of Time" has some serious sound issues, where the dialogue is almost impossible to hear and sound effects feel misplaced. There are echoes when the characters are outdoors, and the sounds of swords clashing are 100 times louder than the music. I never had a problem with the hard rock music from "Warrior Within", but those annoying shrieks of your enemies haven't aged well. In any event, the music is also very difficult to hear, as can be the dialogue in certain sections. Thankfully, "The Two Thrones" has a perfect balance with all of its sound aspects. The music, dialogue, background, and other effects are tuned properly and don't require any adjustments with your sound system or settings. But it's a real shame that "The Sands of Time" and "Warrior Within" have such shockingly awful sound quality, where the way my camera is aimed can determine whether I get a crisp clear sound or a soft whisper. And no...it's not my TV or system, because none of my other games or consoles have this problem.

It is true that all 3 games have had the graphics redone, but I am not convinced this is for the better. What I found more often than not is that while the environments have better textures, the buildings and architecture feel more fake now. "The Sands of Time" and "The Two Thrones" don't have this problem too much, but the Fortress in "Warrior Within" can look very unconvincing in certain areas (especially that long staircase where the Prince enters for the first time). The character models look a little more fake too, with "Warrior Within" showing some seriously baffling issues (the Prince has a different skin complexion on the right side of his mouth). The pre-rendered cutscenes have always looked good, and they hold up today.

Loading times haven't improved, but they were fine to begin with. I've read that some gamers experienced some serious glitches with "Warrior Within" back in 2004 when it was first released, but I never encountered those problems even back in the day, so I couldn't say.

I haven't tested the 3D feature yet, but I'm honestly not interested. I haven't bought into the 3D gimmick yet, having tested it with a few movies and games.

Oh, I know this isn't a huge deal, but this Trilogy has some of the dumbest Trophies I've ever seen. "The Sands of Time" has one for playing over 10 hours, when a new gamer can finish it in 7 hours. Why do I get a trophy for completing the defense mechanism puzzle but not the torturous library sequence? Why is there a trophy for using my Rewind ability less than 20 times in 1 game, yet I'll get a trophy if I use it over 200 times? "Warrior Within" gives me a trophy just for landing on the island at the end of the first sequence, but not another story-related trophy until I destroy a random giant boss about 75% of the way through (even though I've killed 2 similar giants earlier). "The Two Thrones" trophies are a little more reasonable, involving the number of enemies killed using stealth, or the number of enemies killed as Dark Prince, but there are still a scant number of story-related ones. And why are the trophies for these games mostly Silver or Gold level? And why doesn't "The Sands of Time" have a trophy for not dying when the 2 sequels do? Man, I'm think too deep into this.

I guess when it comes to this PS3 collection, I recommend trying to find the original 2003-2005 discs instead. They honestly look and sound better, in my opinion. Games this old won't ever look as sharp as what gets released today, so why try to convince anybody otherwise?

THE TRILOGY

"The Sands of Time" is indeed a true pioneer in action and platforming. The combat is fluid and unique, and the death-defying and escapes the Prince endures are always exhilerating. Where I think "Sands of Time" needs to be put in its place is the story. The concept itself is very good, with a Prince using a powerful dagger with time-altering abilities to reseal a deadly magic. And there are some very compelling story moments, especially in the final hour or so of the game. But the fact of the matter is that between say the 20%-80% mark, this story goes absolutely nowhere. The Vizier (main villain) is nowhere in sight. The confrontation with the Prince's father isn't nearly as dramatic as it needs to be. I don't expect long, drawn-out sequences. But as I think I can show with "The Two Thrones", there is a way to merge this exciting gameplay style with a good story in small doses. "The Sands of Time" has always been a strong game, but I don't think it's ever been a great one.

"Warrior Within" is like the prequel trilogy of "Star Wars". It's the one game that "Prince of Persia" fans like to make fun of, even though there are plenty of fans who like it. This 2nd chapter has some fundamentally strong attributes that its haters forget to address. In fact, I think I love what most people hate about "Warrior Within", and hate what most critics praised about it. I love the hard-edge rock music. I love the darker color palette and more disturbing enemies. I love the way this game makes the Prince self-centered without being an annoying smart aleck. I love the expanded combat engine, with dual weapons and bloodier results. What drives me bonkers with "Warrior Within" is that it involves a ton of backtracking between two timelines, and frankly, it's a confusing mess. The map feature is almost useless, and there aren't enough clues to tell you whether you're heading the right way or not. Exploration is one thing, but "The Sands of Time" and "The Two Thrones" were wise to keep things linear with a few secrets to discover. "Warrior Within", on the other hand, is such a jigsaw puzzle that getting the good ending isn't even likely without a strategy guide. Get this, there are 2 endings, and the slightly-happier one isn't reachable unless you find all the hidden health upgrades. I wouldn't mind this conundrum if "The Two Thrones" didn't begin with the happier ending, but it does! I guess my big beef with "Warrior Within" is that I was willing to appreciate all of the risks it took with its style and story, but I feel like my favorite aspect of "Prince of Persia" --the platforming and exploration --got turned into a backtracking chore. "Warrior Within" is a solid game, but it's sure to test your patience, for one reason or another.

"The Two Thrones", in my opinion, is the pinnacle of this trilogy. The story is constantly in focus, with the player always feeling like something is developing. The combat is just as tight as it was in "Sands" and "Warrior". The Prince character is rightfully returned to the persona that he was in "Sands of Time", though mature enough to sympathize with him. The platforming is as tight as ever, with more tricks and obstacles to discover. The gameplay mechanics are changed up a bit, with a few chariot sequences and the option of attempting stealth Speed Kills. Players will also get to use The Dark Prince from time to time, almost like a brand new character to experiment with. I especially love the lush outdoor scenery of Babylon. Indoor exploration is fine, but navigating the rooftops and streets was often a pleasure. My big gripe about this chapter, however, is the villain. I won't give away anything, but frankly, the villain undergoes a drastic transformation almost immediately, and it's frankly very silly looking. The whole time instead of awaiting my deadly nemesis, I kept thinking, 'This punk looks like an annoying boss battle waiting to happen.' But the psychological torment going on in the Prince's mind more than makes up for that issue. I always enjoyed listening to the narrator's telling of the story, and the Prince's mad inner discussions. I don't know if I'll play "The Two Thrones" (or any of these games) very often, but it's a hell of a first-time playthrough.

OVERALL

Should I give this disc 5 stars because it's exactly what "Prince of Persia" fans are asking for with a great price? Should I give this 3 stars because of all the repetition and technical inconsistencies? I giving this 4 stars because even though I'd rather play the original PS2/GameCube/X-Box versions, this is a solid collection of games in one place.

"The Sands of Time" 8.25 / 10

"Warrior Within" 7.75 / 10

"The Two Thrones" 8.75 / 10

Buy Prince of Persia Trilogy HD Now

The good:

Great HD remakes of the original games. Graphics are pretty good for a remake, the only thing giving it away is the low poly count of the main characters.

FMV have translated very well and are full screen.

Even after all these years, these 3 games still are the best in the series. Challenging and difficult, although you can adjust difficulty in the 2 newer ones.

There is a 5-7 minute hard drive install required, but afterwards, the games run smooth with minimal, unintrusive loading times.

The bad:

Bugs, bugs, bugs. When you select a New Game in Sands of Time, the loading screen showed 2 gears moving, implying the game is being loaded. In reality, the game locked my PS3. After 3 reboots, it worked fine and the loading was immediate. The second bug also happened in Sands of Time, after the first save. You have to wall run a couple of times and the game crashed again. Two reboots later, it worked. None of these bugs were in the original. My PS3 is the newer 160 GB, updated to latest OS. Warrior Within and Two Thrones had no crashes to this point I am about half way through both.

Sound: Difficult to control the sound. The reload screen has very loud music, while in game sounds are a lot softer. Worst is Warrior Within, the best is Two Thrones.

Sands of Time fights: Always hated the teleporting enemies, hate them as much now.

Overall this is a great value and a much welcome remake. You get 30 hours of content for a very good price. If you have never played these games, be aware they are more difficult than the latest PoP installments, although they have better stories and puzzles.

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Like a lot of people who bought this game when it came out, I've been a fan of Prince of Persia since PS2. I've played it on both PC and PS2 and I can definitely tell you that it has more bugs in PS3 than the other 2.

Good part -

Much improved graphics during gameplay. Aside from a little bit of lag once or twice, the game plays just fine when it's not crashing.

The gameplay is still one of the best out there: simple and challenging at times.

The controls for Two thrones is the best out of the 3 games. Sands of Time is very simple but fun.

Bad part -

The worst one for me is the BUGS! Let me tell you how frustrating it is. I had to repeat Warrior Within from the start when I didn't get the Life Upgrade in sequence because I couldn't continue my game. That's only in Warrior Within. For Sands of Time and Two Thrones, it will sometimes freeze your game (I had 5 freezes in 1 playthrough for TT), or sometimes your screen will just turn black and you have to turn off your PS3. Some of the bugs from PS2/PC are still in PS3 plus they added more!! You would wish they would have fix it by now after 5+ years... Right?

The cutscene is still in standard definition. The gameplay actually looks better than the cutscene itself.

The SOUND from Sands of Time is VERY low. You could not hear what the Prince is talking about unless you mess around with the Sound Control (lowering some parts etc.)

Overall -

Like a lot of people, I enjoyed this trilogy because of its platform, puzzles, simple fights with good alternatives/combo, and not to mention you get trophies for this. I've played all 3 games in PS3 for over 50 hours+ combined now (platinum'd 2 of them), and its just sad how the only thing they improved in this remake is the graphics/details. If I were you, I'll buy the PC version (if you haven't played it before) like someone else said for less than $10. It will have everything in this version with less bugs. Get this if you prefer Trophies, and better graphics. Enough said~

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As one of the few gamers that never played the original Prince of Persia releases, I eagerly anticipated this HD Trilogy and purchased it yesterday after a significant price cut.

Even with the price cut, this collection is a blatant slap in the face to gamers. The sound quality in all three games is atrocious, to the point of making the games completely unplayable.

The sound fxs are WAY too loud: scampering bugs and cries drill into your skull with a series of repetitive onslaughts. The music is WAY too soft: unless the other tracks are turned completely down it is inaudible. Lastly, the volume of speech differs between in-game cinematics and cut-scenes. Therefore, it is either blaring or completely underwhelming.

I've encountered less than perfect sound mixes in the Tomb Raider Trilogy (HD collection) and Call of Duty: Black Ops; however, I was able to adjust the sound levels within those games and find an acceptable balance. The mixing in the Prince of Persia Trilogy is not the worst issue. The REAL PROBLEM is the quality of the audio.

EVERYTHING sounds like it is being broadcast through a tin can and then transmitted with reverb set to +11. Effects are also frequently absent or out of place: explosions and rock slides may have no audio whatsoever, while a water fountain at the end of a hallway booms with the verocity of Niagra Falls. Between the abhorrent tonal qualities and discontinuous sounds the audio is beyond mere mediocrity. Not only that, dolby digital doesn't work properly and the sound needs to be set to 2 channels.

I have many HD collections: Metal Gear Solid, God of War, God of War: Origins, Jak & Daxter, Tomb Raider Trilogy, and Ico & Shadow of the Colossus. When I purchase an HD collection, I EXPECT the same sort of HD treatment.

Graphically the HD 16:9 looks on par with other collections. The menu system is terrible though, and will not let you choose from other games without quitting to the PS3 home menu. They also forgot to add sound effects for choosing between the 3 games or options.

All in all, this is a LAZY, AWFUL port that should NOT have made it through Quality Assurance. As a big fan of the Assassin's Creed series, I expected more from Ubisoft. I've eagerly anticipated playing these games for a long time, but playing through them with this sound quality is absolute torture.

The Prince of Persia Trilogy is the worst port, or "upgrade" release I have ever purchased. If Ubisoft had any respect for its fans it would patch the issues or recall the original versions. If this was a film release of a classic, people would be in an uproar!

For newcomers, the sound is an immediate disconnect from the series. For longtime fans, this release is the equivalent of gaming blasphemy. So let me ask you, WHY have people allowed this to happen to a classic trilogy without more negative feedback?

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Armored Core V

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $18.25
Today's Bonus: 9% Off

I have never really played the old AC games. My only experience is through AC4/4A. I loved those games, it was great to be able to pilot a mech that wasn't slow but also wasn't arcady.

I S-ranked the missions and took out the other mechs in the "Arena", but after all that there wasn't much to do. The multiplayer was ok, but it resulted in strafing battles.

ACV seemed to have taken the opposite end of the gameplay experience.

I'll start with gameplay:

It plays close to how AC4/4a played. There's some differences but they aren't huge and it is easy to adapt to. The ACs are smaller. They are half the size of what they were in AC4/4a. This is due to the amount of urban combat you will be fighting. There is a noticeable emphasis now on how you take on enemies. It no longer becomes strafing battles, if you take on a ton of damage or your energy runs low, it's best to take cover somewhere. The large buildings help make it easy to duck into some alley and recover your energy.

Because of the urban combat, one addition seems to be the Scan Mode and recon units. There is no longer a minimap to find your enemy. You shoot a recon unit and enter Scan Mode in order to locate the enemy. This also allows you to "see" through buildings. This also puts emphasis on the "Operator" in PvP. The Operator sees a map of the territory and players on their team. The players will need to use the recon units to allow the Operator to gather more battlefield information and relay that to the team.

As far as the standard AC features:

There's still a good amount of parts to use, but it seems to be tied to you Team Level(I'll go over that later). More parts are made available once you hit certain team levels. You also find parts in missions or get them as rewards. Customization is also still here and in great detail. If you're a solid emblem creator, you have a good variety of patterns and "brushes" to use. I actually prefer this type of creator as it requires some skill to create amazing decals/emblems.

Controls are pretty standard. There is no longer a left and right shoulder weapon. Instead it switches out to the weapons so there's a slight delay when switching. Boosting and overall speed have been slowed down and you can now jump-scale buildings.

Single Player:

You still have about 90 missions total with about 9 story missions that can actually take a while to beat. It won't take long to beat them but the story missions are no joke and can take a while to S rank. The 80 or basically "kill target" missions, sometimes with targets being other "boss" ACs. There is no Arena so the AI AC fights are all in those order missions.

The single player experience isn't great, but if you're a completionist, there are "scrap parts" in most missions to look for and collect, and there's also the challenge of S ranking missions.

Multiplayer:

This is the bulk of the game. If this doesn't interest you, then rent the game. Before you even start you need to create or join a team. Joining an established team gives you access to a huge list available parts already. It also gives you access to other players that can help you coop those missions. There doesn't seem to be a huge focus on trading in the game. Money is easy to come by and so are most parts. But if you wanted to trade emblems/decals you can.

Modes:

Conquest: this is probably the biggest addition to the series and why I think it is a step forward. This allows teams to capture territories on a map. There are lots of territories within regions of the map. The team with the highest Territory levels will show up as the leader of that region. Conquest battles are either invasion type of defense type. There's more detail on how this works in forums so I won't go into that. These are generally a mix of PvE and PvP. The overall system seems to work but there are quirks in trying to defend your territory, which hopefully is ironed out later on.

Mercenary: Players can put themselves up as mercenaries. Once you register, you become available for other players to be recruited. When you register, you'll be put in the AC test room until a job comes in. The job details are displayed and you are given the choice of taking the job or declining it. There is a merc rating that ranks you on how much money you have made. Mercs who want to climb the leaderboards need to be careful which missions they take. The pay generally isn't great and you'll end up losing money if you take on too much damage.

Free Battle: This is a pvp mode. You can do a quick match or choose a match type. There are team battles, FFA, and duels. Pretty straight forward and fun.

Mock Battles: Your team can setup mock battles for practice.

As far as the multiplayer experience, there is lots of stuff to do. And even if you're on your own, you can hire mercs to help you out.

I do have some issues with the game.

Graphically, it's ok. Everything is just so dark and drab and it makes it difficult to see detail in other players' ACs, but all that goes out the window when you start fighting.

The support from Namco Bandai isn't that good compared to From Software's support of the JP version.

The manual is 5 pages, which is ok if there were other "official" places we can go to for information, perhaps an in-game manual or an official forum. There is none of that here.

If you're in the EU region, you also may have a problem trying to get matches. It is sounding pretty empty there and we can only hope that NB can merge the non JP regions in the future.

As far as the NA region, the population seems to be fine. I have no problems getting merc jobs and you can get in on a good variety of missions that way. I'll also note that I didn't experience too much lag in the games. I see it here and there but its not common.

The PS3 version also apparently suffers from FPS issues. I have not noticed it since it doesn't affect the overall gameplay. I also found this game loads up missions very fast. Even navigating through the menus and going into assembly was a quick load.

If you're a fan of the series I'd add another star on my rating. I knocked it on the SP experience being such a small part of this game and the lack of Arena. It's a good game overall but for the uninitiated it can be tough to get into.

EDIT 04/20/2012

I have to knock down a star in less than a month.

If you are playing purely for Single player and a huge AC fan, then I'd keep the star there.

For people looking to play Multiplayer in the Conquest or Free Battle, you may be disappointed.

Defense missions require players to wait in a room for their territory to be attacked. There is nothing to do but change you're AC configuration and the wait is indefinite.

In Free battle and merc, you need to be on at the right time, otherwise there won't be anyone else on.

In addition to the above issues, there's also Namco Bandai. The japanese version of this game is already on 1.03 to fix various parts balances.

For all other versions:

Thank you for contacting Namco Bandai's Customer Support Department.

We currently have no information regarding any upcoming updates for the North American release of Armored Core V at this time. This information will be posted on the official Armored Core V website and on our Facebook page if any new updates become available. Please keep checking them periodically for any new updates as they become available:

Namco Bandai Games America Inc. Customer Support

E-Mail:

Facebook:

I'd still recommend the game in hopes that a larger community would mean greater leverage in getting NamcoBandai to do something, and better matchmaking for multiplayer.

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Hilarious the number of people on here crying about the game being "constantly online"...Do you guys just blindly buy everything or is it just video games? If you did ANY research at all you would have read in the hundreds of articles/write ups before release that the game has a persistent online world. I personally think it's great to be able to jump into a mission, keep an entire team of friends together, track their stats, work together and trade parts/money together at any time. If none of your team is online, you can hire mercenaries (other real players) to come in and help you out. If your team becomes strong enough, you actually control parts of the world map which other teams will then try to overthrow. The game controls are MUCH improved over AC4/4A and the upgrades are all still there. Tons of parts/mods/weapons/boosters/frames to collect and try. My only gripe is that the visuals somehow look worse than AC4/4A but considering it runs online with little to no lag, I'll accept this minor gripe for the good of the gameplay. The game has a ton of potential to be long lasting, you just have to decide for yourself if you are a turtle in your basement and only want to play by yourself or if you want to take a chance and have some fun with other mech fans. Hop on in!!!

Buy Armored Core V Now

My experience so far with the game has been a great one.

As stated in other reviews and a number of articles online and in magazines, Armored Core V is fixed toward a multiplayer experience. Since it's so close to the game's release, it's difficult to get the best grasp on the game, but for the hours I've played so far, I'm very, very excited to see what's ahead.

The focus is on players creating teams and interacting with their teams taking different territories and getting their rating up. There can be matches of up to 5 vs 5, which I can't imagine with gameplay being intense enough on 1 vs 1. There is an offline mode and one can play through story missions, or simple order missions to take out individual NPC ACs or units of tanks and helicopters. If you do play online, one other person can join with story or order missions, and the help is definitely appreciated. It's not an easy game, so for those looking for a decent challenge, there's one to be had. Like I sad, I haven't even had enough time to completely flesh out the big team aspects of the game, so I haven't seen the 5 vs 5 yet.

The mechs this time around are smaller, quicker, and more nimble. Smaller biped mechs can fit between buildings and climb to the top of taller ones to snipe and hide. It makes the combat much more fast paced.

There's a ridiculous amount of customization when it comes to the mechs. Each part can be painted individually, and can be labeled with completely custom labels. There are 500 parts to choose from, and I'm sure, with the game being a largely online experience, that many more parts will be released. There is also a large amount of customization when it comes to teams as well. There are team emblems, team paint jobs, tag-lines, how players are accepted into teams (player-vote, screening, free-to-join, etc.), even down to how the players are paid after missions are completed.

As for the complaints toward the graphics, if you haven't played the game during the most intense moments, I can understand why it's a little scaled back. I can't imagine it running well when there are 10 mechs battling it out with constant destruction and firing. The game looks awesome enough. The blurring effects are great, lighting is good, firing and explosion effects are fast, and the animation of the mechs themselves is fluid and believable. The textures are a little lower-resolution, but I haven't studied them as much as I could have. I tend to focus more on gameplay, and to say the least, I'm enthralled.

There's a lot to learn initially, and the game pretty much just dumps you into it beside a few tips to read through throughout the menus and the introductory mission. It's been rewarding so far.

I'll come back and edit this review if anything else comes up, or if there is a common frustration that I haven't come across yet.

All-in-all, if you're a fan of the Armored Core series, and don't mind the game being online-focused (which at this point, 90% games are, and I believe is for the better), it's very worth it.

Even if you're new, I would head to your local video rental store, or Gamefly and such to try it first, but don't be surprised to find yourself enjoying it.

Read Best Reviews of Armored Core V Here

A couple of months ago I got the itch to play a mech game. I wanted to hop into a mech, loaded for bear and go blow stuff up. I thought about Mechwarrior 4 and Steel Battalion. Of course I don't have a gaming PC or an original Xbox, so those were out of the question. I had played the demo for Armored Core 4 and didn't like it much. I spent time reading every review I could on every mech game for this current generation of consoles. I even went out and threw down 20 bucks on Front Mission Evolved.

Most mech games nowadays get crap reviews. And I had read quite a few on Armored Core V. When will I learn? After playing Front Mission Evolved for a bit, I still felt like there was something I was missing. It's not a bad game, it's just not a great game. So I went to youtube and started watching every video I could find on ACV. Despite all the negative reviews, I was liking what I was seeing.

So I bought it, and guess what, it rocks. If you are looking for a mech fix, look no further. The thing I like most about ACV is that you can pretty much tackle the missions however you want. Do you want to go through with blazing speed and destroy enemies as fast as possible? Can do. Do you want to be strategic and stealthy by climbing tall buildings and sniping your enemies? Can do. It is completely up to you.

There have been a few complaints leveled at ACV that are completely unfounded. But first let me cover a few things. As you have read, when you start the game you must create or pick a team before beginning your first mission. If you are smart you will find a team with a high score. I found one that had a score of 60 and it was free to enlist. The team score is important because you have access to more parts. The main menu consists of three screens. Most reviewers only talk about the world map. But there are in fact two other screens. The team screen where you see all the info regarding your team and the garage/workshop. The workshop is where you assemble, buy and sell parts, paint your mech, and test your mech. This is an area that gets little coverage in reviews. Instead we are told that the garage costs you money every time you use it. This is only true if you use it "in mission" The main screen workshop costs nothing to enter. Your money is spent on parts. And when you are done assembling your mech you can test it out in the test area. This area can be set up with enemies so that you can see what kind of damage your weapons do. In this area you are not charged for damage or ammo use. So it's like a free for all. Pretty cool.

The world map gives you access to campaign, order, extra, mercenary, and conquest missions. You can replay the campaign and order missions as often as you like. And this is where the game is so much like Gran Turismo. Every mission is rated. S, A, B, C, D. You are given a rating upon completion. S being the best. You are given money for every mission, which of course will be based on your rating. There are subquests in every mission that you can complete in order to increase your rating. So, like Gran Turismo, you can keep going back to try and beat your previous rating until you get an S. And then you can replay as often as you like to get cash. Completing missions also gives your team more points. This of course unlocks more parts. And like Gran Turismo you'll want to upgrade your mech to achieve the best possible outcome.

Gran Turismo doesn't have a story. It's not about story, it's about simulation. That is the case here as well. In my opinion the story is not integral to the gameplay. For me it's about the building of the mech and the destruction of my enemies. Some complaints have been leveled at the mech assembly. One reviewer stated he thought he had equipped all kinds of bad ass weapons only to find out that he had taken them all off. Well that's because he didn't spend enough time in the workshop figuring things out. Does it have a steep learning curve? Kinda. Is it trial and error? Yes. But once you understand how things work, it will become very easy. I'll give you an example.

I wanted to get a new sniper rifle. So I bought one. But when I went to equip it I couldn't find it. What happened? The mech has several locations to equip weapons. Left and right arms as well as left and right bays. When you place a weapon in one of the bays you can switch it out on the fly with the weapon on the same arm. So what I realized is that in order to get a new weapon in say my left bay I had to unequip my left arm. Take that weapon and put it in my left bay. Then when I bought the new sniper rifle it was available to me when I went to equip my left arm. See the arm weapons when purchased only show up in the arm slots. Not the bay slots. Confused? I was too until I figured it out.

Which brings me to my next point. In most of the reviews they state that the steep learning curve is off putting and give the game a lower score because of it. And yet a game like Demon's souls, also made by from software, has a learning curve that will make most casual gamers cry. That game however, was given rave reviews and lauded as one of the greatest games every made. That folks, is what we call hypocrisy.

So if you are looking for a mech game with DEEP customization, replayability, and the ability to play as you see fit, then look no further. I would recommend this as a purchase every day of the week.

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I used to play armored core for answer online, and I really got upset at how these guys online would fly around shooting at you and you didn't know which direction they were shooting at you from, it was really annoying, and i had to stop playing armored core for answer online cause of that, it was just too frustrating, I wouldn't even be able to hit the enemy mech at all cause of all the flying around and circling going on. But now thanks to From software answering my e mails they agreed that all the flying around and circling was too frustrating, so they finally did something about it. Now in armored core 5 buildings everywhere, so no more circling around in circles, and now also, they took away the mechs ability to fly vertically, in short they fixed the 2 biggest problems with armored core,

and now it is better than ever, and the detailed graphics of the cities is the icing,

well done guys.

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