Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition - First Impressions

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition was released on to the marketplace today. I have played the game a reasonable amount and so far I'm very happy with it. The game definitely works well with the controller, even though many people including myself thought it may be too awkward for a primarily PC game. But, it works, simple as that.

Battlefield 3: A Look At The Beta

Battlefield 3 is set to be released on the 25th of October in Northern America, 27th of October in Australia and 28th of October in the UK. But before its ever nearing release date we have been able to have a look at the Battlefield 3 Beta. After a fair bit of time on the Beta, Battlefield 3 looks to be a serious contender for  one of the best games hitting the market in 2011. Of course there is positives and negatives, as in any game, but considering this is only the beta, it is looking good for Battlefield.

I'm gonna start with the negatives, spawn killers, balance issues, annoying voice overs, flash-lights, not enough destruction, terrible servers, squads can't join the same game and more spawn kills.

These are all, as well as being incredibly annoying, just teething problems. It is worrying that it is so close to launch but I'm sure these things will be corrected, and when you set these problems aside, you'll be glad you did!

But the Beta does show some incredibly good aspects to the upcoming title, we get a taster of what is to come and so far things such as classes and maps look to be great. We are able to use four different classes and get a grip on some of the weaponry, play full Rush games on the map; operation metro and have a sneak peek at the ranking up system, which I believe works very well. It appears to be that you earn attachments for weapons through performance with a certain gun, not through rank alone, meaning you will be able to customize your favourite weapons with sights, suppressors and more.

All in all, from what has been seen in the Beta, Battlefield 3 looks to be a terrific game for both the casual and hardcore gamers among you. It has had a lot of hype over the months and has so far lived up to expectations, accept for a few problems, but that is what the Beta is there for.

With Battlefield 3, you'll find an incredible experience that feels more real than anything you've ever played before, it looks incredibly realistic, vaulting objects is a great addition, the sound is perfect, and the destruction works, it works from buildings falling to bullets hitting walls.

Battlefield 3 looks fantastic, and we'll tell you more about the full game as soon as we can.

Dead Island Review

The concept was an open world role playing shooter with melee combat and zombies. This game could easily be the greatest game in history. But did it deliver on all fronts?

GAMEPLAY

The first thing I noticed when playing Dead Island was that the controls felt sluggish and unresponsive, fortunately this feeling didn't last long but did put me off a bit, the controls become natural shortly after but a lot of people struggle with the vehicle controls later on. By far the most annoying part of the game is the random encounters: you're in an intense battle, there's too many zombies to take on at once so you begin to back off, when suddenly, you're smacked repeatedly in the back and killed, I would like to point out this is a rare occurrence but it is still incredibly aggravating. Coop completely redeems the game of all of these downfalls, as long as you're playing with friends. I'm sorry but random stranger who join you out of nowhere online just doesn't work!

CAMPAIGN

I'm afraid its not exactly deep, not emotional either. But what do you expect from an open world game? Fallout is the only series I've played where I've enjoyed the story, and some of that wasn't great. but ignoring the motives behind the missions, they are epic fun with a few friends.

GRAPHICS & SOUND

The sound effects are just perfect, gunfire, zombie screams, slicing cleavers, the list goes on! It's the same story with graphics too, broken limbs, burnt flesh, all exactly how you want them. This drastically changes between battles, cinematics and character models are lifeless and crude. Its the same with sound, weapons no longer seem the same in these scripted events, and the voice acting is the worst I've ever heard!

MULTIPLAYER

This is the only upside to the gameplay, as long as its with friends. Drop in coop with strangers is great in theory, but in practice, no. Not at all. I was playing and someone who was a much higher level dropped into my game, waited for me to finish a massive fight on my own and then took all the loot and health kits, then left! On the other hand, with friends it is one of the most fun, and hilarious games you will ever play.

OVERALL

All of its faults are forgiven in coop with friends, if this is what you want to do then this game is a must buy, and if based on this quality alone this game would get a 9/10. But unfortunately all the other things do drag it down a bit and it loses some appeal.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10
CAMPAIGN: 5/10
G&S: 8/10
MULTIPLAYER: 8/10
OVERALL: 7/10

Gears of War 3 Review

Gears of war 3 is the final episode in this storyline and brings the epic trilogy to a close. There is a lot here for hardcore fans (especially in mulitplayer) but theres also chances for casual gamers to get stuck in and chainsaw people into bits.

GAMEPLAY

The game feels exactly like both its predecessors, but smoother and less buggy. shotguns still aren't always reliable and you still sometimes roll into fire instead of taking cover but these moments are now far and few in between. The most noticeable difference is the sights blooming when fired or moving, which is a great addition as  guns like the retro lancer are to powerful to have a small scope when fired at full speed but needs a smaller sight when burst firing at a distance. new moves such as the meat shield grenade tag and the mantle kick into enemies do make the complete experience more enjoyable and add many different scenarios into the multiplayer firefights. 

STORYLINE

This is an area epic has always succeeded in with Gears, aside from the cheesy lines every other sentence from the predictable characters. The storyline is improved greatly from the previous two games, adding colour and emotion into the mix, not that the previous games had no soul, but moments like Dom shooting his wife never had a big effect while playing whereas the new game has one of the saddest moments in any game I've played. 

GRAPHICS & SOUND

Most of the graphics look the same at first glance, but it becomes more apparent as the game goes on that a lot has been improved. Character models look better and have more detail than before and huge areas in the campaign look believable, unlike Gears 2's open areas. the music in the background is so good that you almost never notice it, voice acting sounds better, guns sound more distinct from shooting to reloads and the locust creatures make better noises too, like the Brumak roar or the lambent berserker cry.

MULITPLAYER

Versus mode matchmaking is still far from perfect, but at least you get into a match now, but its a small part of the new multiplayer, Horde 2.0 is some of the most fun and stressful hours of your life, moving quickly (sort of) from running around with shotguns to screaming down the mic as you're destroyed by the lambent bosses from the fourth time this wave. Building defences adds new levels of depth to matches (until the berserker destroys them) and points, trading weapons, and things like the silverback make a richer experience which is more cooperative than before. Beast mode is fun but lacks depth and replayability after a while, but its good for killing 20 minutes.

OVERALL

A strong but cheesy story makes a brilliant campaign, followed up by great competetive multiplayer and incredible cooperative modes make this the best shooter so far this year and the best 3rd person shooter of all time. This game is a must buy for any Gears fan and a great game for anyone who wants a great game to play with friends. I think this game will have a long lifespan because it always managed to avoid hacking like other shooters on the market.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

STORYLINE: 8/10

GRAPHICS&SOUND: 10/10

MULTIPLAYER: 9/10

OVERALL: 9/10