Now that the honeymoon phase is over and the dust has finally settled many will advocate that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the better game with its Michael-Bay-esque storyline and constant injection of action, but this is simply untrue. What is true is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was more highly anticipated than its predecessor as many believed Black Ops was merely a stop-gap title to bide time before Modern Warfare 3?s release. In any case, Black Ops was something special in the genre of first-person shooters, especially after Modern Warfare 2 and World at War. Its emphasis on story and character development is what drove this near-perfect blend of action, drama, and tension.Continue reading »
Blizzard’s new World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysmhas, forgive the pun, “shattered” its predecessor’s record sales. It effectively destroyed and recreated the Azeroth us avid WoW addicts knew and loved to give us a whole new gameplay experience. Blizzard has given the entire game a major facelift; not only with remaking the maps, quests and storyline, but also interface, graphics, races, classes and abilities.
Description
The premise behind Cataclysm is that the corrupted and rebuilt dragon Deathwing is finally emerging from his realm to unleash fiery hell on the world he feels so wronged him. In doing so, the rift created threatens to tear Azeroth apart causing tsunamis and earthquakes that devastate and forever alter the terrain in both the Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdom continents. Horde and Alliance must now try to put their own war aside and band together to save the world they both share from Deathwing’s wrath.
Capable of ruining your day in one fell swoop.
What We Like
After polling some regular players and analyzing my own experience, the general consensus is that there is hardly anything not to love about this expansion! The two new races, worgen and goblin, are expertly introduced and incorporated. They have also added some formerly off-limits classes to the races; such as allowing undead to be hunters.
Terrain navigation and maneuvering has also become much easier and more enjoyable with the implementation of flying mounts in Azeroth. The map and quest overhauls have equally proven to be incredibly beneficial; improving the level of quest interactivity with NPCs and the storyline itself. You actually get down and dirty into the monumental events happening instead of the usual “Go kill 25 boar and bring back their snouts. Okay, now, go back and do the same, only this time for the liver.”
Guilds now have reputation and perks as well. You can earn ranks within your guild and through questing, guild dungeon runs and the like, it gains perks such as XP and riding speed boosts.
Blizzard also made the game interface much more user-friendly; making things infinitely easier to find and accomplish. No more fishing through your spell book to find the one portal you need, it’s all in one easy button you can put on your action bar. They’ve also kicked the graphics up a few notches. Movement is more fluid and realistic, character faces and equipment are more detailed and terrain is sharper and also more detailed.
What We Didn’t Like
Despite the fact that this is one of the most functional expansions Blizzard has ever put out for WoW, there is one thing that utterly screwed everyone over: ability changes and rearrangements. Many much-needed buff and abilities, often depended on for low-level survivability have been pushed back to ridiculously high levels. Mana costs on many spells was also raised which means, coupled with the lack of buffs, mana pools drain fast and cloth-wearers die often.
Final Verdict
All in all however, this expansion is by far the very best I have seen in the history of World of Warcraft. On behalf of a good chunk of the WoW-playing populace, thank you Blizzard for this really awesome Christmas gift.
Racing games are one of those genres that never seems to run out of ideas. Every time you think the genre has hit a “development block” they come out with something new that even baffles me sometimes. Now I’m not saying everything works. Heavens no. I don’t think that can be said for any genre, but racing seems to be one of those types of games that can be mixed with any other genre. Activision’s newest racing game blur is one of those weird mixes, combining realistic racing with energy based weaponry. Does Blur actually make it to the finishing line or is this game just a burn out?
Blur is the newest racing game from Activision and Bizarre Creations, the same duo that brought you Project Gotham Racing. The game is an interesting mix of realistic driving, like they having the PGR series, and weaponry and abilities like those in Mario Kart.
What We Liked
I See The Light! Bur is all about the bright lights and heavy visuals. While this is normally a turn off in most games, the developers managed to pull it off. The flashing lights from power ups and weapon blasts seems more stylish than overbearing.
Fun For EveryoneMultiplayer is an important part of every game. Not only should almost all games have online multiplayer (Up to 20 players per match), but a local option too (4 player splitscreen). Blur succeeds on both fronts while offering a plethora of gaming options.
Decisions, DecisionsBlur offers a wide variety choices to every player. First off, the game features an abundance of vehicles ranging from levels of drift, vehicle type and even colour. The next thing is the modifications or mods. Mods are specialized enchancements to your racing, whether it be enabling special abilities or boosting existing ones.
What We Didn’t Like
I Hope My Insurance Covers ThatThe cars in Blur handle very similar to those found in Project Gotham Racing. Normally this would be great, but when you’re dodging lightning bolts from the heavens and other assortments of ill-mannered attacks, sometimes it makes it difficult to evade or recover. I commonly found myself driving into the sides of the track after taking a bolt or shunt.
Final Verdict
Blur is a very enjoyable racing game that is suitable for everyone of all ages. It’s quite easy to lose quite a bit of time playing Blur with your friends or by yourself. This game was quite a surprise to the racing genre, and makes for an interesting multiplayer experience. You should definitely check out Blur, now available for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. We give it a 8.5
