The Last of Us Review – Playstation 3

Originally published on 11/23/2013 – Part of which was written in June of 2013 when I originally played the game.

Post-Apocalyptic games are fun, lots of fun, because it’s such a good setting to work with. You have characters struggling for survival, some willing to at all costs, no matter what you give up, what you sacrifice, or who for that matter, as long as you can survive. Hours after finishing The Last of Us, I have just experienced a story that captured me in ways that games rarely do. Was I blown away by this? No, but that’s not a bad thing. I was emotionally captured, though. I felt compassion for the characters involved in the story, I felt emotions when they did certain things I didn’t like, when they got involved in situations where they were in very real danger, I was scared for them. Basically, Naughty Dog did what Naughty Dog does best, they created a world, that, although we haven’t experienced a situation like these characters have, we’re still able to relate to these characters, because they seem to feel emotions that we feel in our everyday lives. Fear, Anger, Betrayal, Sadness, Happiness, and many others that we are all used to, are present in this game, in many different situations, and that’s what I think The Last of Us does so well, it creates a world that’s on the brink of ending, yet we can relate so well with the characters in it. Masterful work.

Joel is our main hero here, a grizzled veteran-like character, who has seen it all, and been through it all. After a shocking opening sequence, we’re sped up to the current times, where hope is all but lost, but survival is the way of life, with people double crossing each other at every turn, and no one being surprised by it. Joel is a complex character, and has many faces, being a very firm survivor, but also displaying a softer side, shown through his “partner”, Tess. Joel, of all the characters in this story, impacted me the most, because I felt such a range of emotion towards his character, and it changed so dramatically through the story, which, obviously I won’t spoil, even though at this point and time most of you should have played the game. I am spoiler free, however.

So, the present date in this game is the year 2033, and Joel makes an agreement to transport “cargo” across the US, because, well, he said he would. He’s a man of his word, I suppose. The cargo turns out to be Ellie, the other central part of this puzzle that is The Last of Us. Ellie and Joel become the focus, inseparable throughout the game, and essential to each other. You see the relationship build, become strong, as they endure the world together as Joel takes her across the ravaged country. The dialog exchange between the two is strong, throughout the game, and you see the relationship come together, slowly, but it’s powerful stuff, as Joel grows to genuinely care about this girl, as a daughter almost, although that is treading on dangerous ground in Joel’s mind, but you’ll see what I mean.

With a rich story and stunning visuals, The Last of Us takes full of advantage of the Playstation 3 hardware. Audio, as far as music, is superb on all fronts, the sense of dread in the music, building up to tense moments, is very cool, and the dialog and voice acting is top notch, with some of gaming’s most recognizable voice actors being a part of this game. (Yes, Nolan North is in the game, although it took me a few minutes to figure out who he was, and when I did, I couldn’t help but laugh, it was an interesting turn for him to take, meanwhile, Mr. Booker DeWitt himself – Troy Baker, is the hero of the tale, Joel!) The graphics are the best the system has to offer, and it often stunned me throughout the game, remembering what the PS3 has in terms of available resources, and how they were able to squeeze as much out of the system, to make something look this damn amazing. The barren, eerie country is just plain beautiful, with overgrown grass, fallen trees, deserted cities, all leaving breathtaking views, it’s just amazing to look at. If the Playstation 3 is capable of this, I can’t wait to see what the Playstation 4 can do, with a potential sequel (I am hopefull!)

After you’re done admiring the visuals, and being in awe at the amazing cast of voice actors and audio stuffs, you’ll find yourself in immediate danger. This is a post-apocalyptic world after all, everything around you is either out to get you, or providing something to deter your safety. Seriously, there is danger around every corner, whether it be some of the Infected, or other people trying to take you out to ensure their survival, safety is something that’s very rare in this game. You’re fighting for your life, and Ellie’s, and The Last of Us has some of the most vicious gameplay in recent memory.

First of all, Stealth is your best option. Period. End of story. Yes, you can go commando on baddies and take them out, but it’s not advised, for several reasons. Mainly, your resources are extremely limited. You’ll often find a few bullets for your guns here and there, but nothing to keep you stocked up for big gun fights, you have to be conservative with EVERYTHING you find in this game. If you can help it, stealthy taking out enemies is the way to go. Sure, the Infected are pretty much immune to that tactic, so saving the ammo for them is the right way to go, but at the same time, the Infected vary and have different forms, so even then you have to be picky about which guns you’re going to use against which baddies. It’s a tough gamble to consider, but it makes the game all the more amazing, there is no hand holding here, you’re in it to survive, and there are little fucks given about your ammo supply.

Hand to hand combat is a taxing and sometimes difficult experience, as you’re not really any different than the people you’re fighting. I got my ass kicked handily several times in some of these situations, and while it was frustrating, I can’t be mad at the attempt at a realistic system here. The stealth kills, are gruesome. You feel kind of sick knowing you’re strangling a man to death, as he attempts to get Joel off of him, it’s a pretty sick feeling, if I can be honest.

When it comes to combat though, and dealing with the Infected, as opposed to other humans, everything goes out the window. They attack randomly, and with no remorse, their main objective is to kill Joel, and make him suffer. I hated dealing with the Infected, mainly because they terrified me. The runners are one thing, but the damn Clickers, oh lord the Clickers haunt my dreams. Shortly after playing this game, I’d be up in the middle of the night and have to fix the baby a bottle, and when walking through the quiet house, I’d hear that awful noise they make, and immediately be terrified, walking through the house in the dark, not something I was fond of while playing this game. I can still hear that noise, and it’s still creepy as shit. Clickers are bad, yo, like drugs.

With supplies being so short, crafting is your best friend. You can craft a good bit of stuff in The Last of Us, and with so many things being able to be looted (random items like scissors, cloths, among many other things) you’ll be able to craft many an items, like first aid kits, throughout the game. The game won’t let you craft an unlimited amount of items, because they’re going for a realistic approach here, there’s no way Joel can carry 100 first aid kits on him, it’s just not possible. You’ll also be able to find pills to upgrade Joel’s stats, which presents the real choices here, because you won’t be able to full upgrade him, you’ll have to make choices. What’s more important? Faster healing time, or quicker reloads? Fortunately, the game has a new game + mode, so you can max him out, but only on a second playthrough, and if you found enough supplements throughout the game. This also applies to the weapons Joel finds, each having upgrades to improve performance of said weapon.

Strangely enough, The Last of Us has online multiplayer. After selecting one of two different sides, you’ll have two modes to play through. Survivor mode is the most nerve wrecking thing I’ve ever played in online games. Pretty much picture the campaign in multiplayer mode, except you’re out to get human controller players instead of AI. It’s just a play on my nerves because I spent my whole time trying not to make a mistake, and focused on miniscule things, and ended up dying cheaply anyways. It’s a fun mode, but I sucked at it, and my teammates did too, and we got owned, wasn’t pretty. Supply raid is similar, but instead of death being permanent like in Survivor mode, you have a number of lives that decreases as each member of your team is slain, it’s something I enjoyed a lot more because I could respawn after I died, so it wasn’t a permanent thing, but then again, I did die an awful lot, again, because I sucked at the online mode, but that’s just me. One of the cool things about the online modes is the ability to craft weapons like in the single player mode, it’s pretty cool and on the fly crafting is a neat addition to a frantic multiplayer mode.

The Last of Us is a fantastic game, Naughty Dog does it again. Is it the best game I’ve played this year, Nah, but it’s a fun game none the less. It’s filled with real emotion, real characters, and a very interesting story. The pacing is a little slower than I’d liked, but I’m not surprised, given the atmosphere the game takes place in. I prefer Uncharted a little more than The Last of Us, but that doesn’t stop this game from being great. 2013 has been good to us with games, and The Last of Us is definitely one you don’t want to miss.

~Treeter’s Score: 9~

I’m Back! Did anyone know I was gone?

Originally published on 11/23/2013

Hello everyone! I have been away for a while, doing many many things that have completely consumed my time. It’s been an interesting last couple of months, and I have had a lot of major changes in my life, almost all of them good, so I am in a happy place right now. Back in May, the next gen wars got fuel when Microsoft finally unveiled their next console, and I started to get the itch to start blogging and reviewing games again, but I didn’t do it, I was a few weeks away from a major turning point in my life.

On May 22nd, 2013, around 1pm, my wife Ashton and I welcomed our first child into the world, Emma Michelle Gibson. She was beautiful, and yes, I know, everyone says that about their kids, rightfully so, but I truly believe she’s one of the most beautiful babies ever. I have spent the last six months adjusting to the life of parenthood, and while it does a number on the free time you have to do things (mostly play games), it’s worth every minute and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I hope she grows up to be a gamer like her dad, but if she doesn’t, she’ll still be perfect .

I had a hard time deciding which console I was going to get, because for a long time I was extremely loyal to Microsoft, I thought they were untouchable, and they were for a while. I think when 2009 hit and the Kinect was introduced to the world, they shifted to a place that alienated a lot of the true gamers from their console. Gone were the exclusives that they shelled the big bucks for, and instead was a Nintendo-like approach to a more casual audience, with a terrible piece of hardware to help gather said casuals. At that point, Sony had begun earning back their alienated fans from their somewhat disastrous Playstation launch. PS+ hit the world, giving gamers free games every month and other exclusive goodies, making a strong point for the struggling Japanese company. By the end of this console generation, I only had a Playstation 3, having traded in my entire Xbox 360 collection.

Trading in the Xbox 360 had a purpose, for the most part. With the baby on the way, I had to find a way to get some extra spending money for a next gen system. Not having a job at the time was putting extra pressure on me to get it together so I could get either a PS4 or an Xbox One. E3 came and went and I decided the PS4 was what I wanted, as it had more games that interested me. Xbox One had Titanfall and Dead Rising 3, but at the time Microsoft announced a bunch of features that just didn’t interest me. Requiring the internet to check in every 24 hours? Uh, I have Comcast, they aren’t reliable, I don’t want to be punished even more for having their shitty service. No used games? Uh…I don’t buy used games often, but I know people that do, and I think used games hurt no one. Developers already made money off the copy, so stop bitching…Anyways, Microsoft just didn’t wow me like I thought they would, they want to be the center of the living room, not the “elite” gaming console. Sony appealed to me more as a gamer, therefore I went with them.

I got $900+ for my 360 and all the games, controllers, etc… I then paid off the PS4, Killzone Shadow Fall, Madden 25, Battlefield 4, and Assassin’s Creed IV. This all happened on June 13th, 2013. I had to sit on those preorders for months, but it’s ok, because I was ready for next gen, and excited. Fast forward to November 16th, 2013 (I played a few games in between, The Last of Us – which I’m posting my delayed review for very soon, Grand Theft Auto V, Batman Arkham Origins, Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3, and Wind Waker HD, to name a few) and I am waiting at GameStop to pick up my PS4 preorder, and I am stoked. I plan to discuss my time with the PS4 in a separate blog, and funny enough, a few days later I got a call from my friend who is a GameStop manager asking me if I wanted an Xbox One, he had a few preorders left to go…I scrounged up some money (PayPal yo!) and managed to pay it off, with Ryse and Dead Rising 3.

So, in the end, I have all 3 next gen consoles, if you want to count the WiiU, which I do. I am planning a LOT of blogs to cover everything I’ve done on the next gen systems, including the following:

• Xbox One vs. Playstation 4 comparison blog
• Reviews of both systems
• Killzone: Shadow Fall Review (PS4)
• Call of Duty: Ghosts Review (PS4)
• Madden 25 Review (PS4)
• Knack Review (PS4)
• Ryse: Son of Rome Review (XBONE)
• Dead Rising 3 Review (XBONE)

A lot of stuff to go, but fortunately I’ve almost already finished my Madden and COD reviews, as well as the PS4 system review itself, so I am making good timing. I hope to have all of this done within the next few weeks, but given the hectic work schedule I am about to endure, I don’t know if I will have it all done within a reasonable amount of time or what. To summarize though, I am starting the blog up again, and I want to keep at it, and share my opinions with everyone!

So here we go, sit back, relax and enjoy the blogs!

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Review – Wii

Originally Published on 6/9/2013

Hello everyone, it’s been a little bit since my last review, and a lot has gone down in the time I have been away. First and foremost, I am now a father to a beautiful baby girl, Emma Michelle Gibson, who was born 20 inches long, and weighed 6lbs 10oz. This is mine and my wife’s first child, and we are of course adjusting to the wonderful lifestyle known as parenting, and boy what a change it is. The nights are longer, and the lack of sleep has its effects on me, but it’s all worth it. I have been working on Super Mario Galaxy 2 for a long time now, and while I have taken a good bit longer to finish it than a usual game (for one, because of the baby, and two, because the game itself took a lot longer to 100% complete than most, so it added up), I still intended to review it, eventually, so, without further ado, Super Mario Galaxy 2!

In 2007, Nintendo wow’d us with the next iteration of Mario, the Galaxy series, taking Mario where he’s never been before, to outer space, and beyond. The game featured fantastic use of the Wii controls, letting you pick up shards by pointing at the screen, all while managing a control scheme that is not too far off from the Super Mario 64 title. It worked, and the journey was fantastic. Collecting stars was still the main method of advancing in the game, but everything else around you had definitely changed. Not only was Mario in 3D, the way he interacted with the world around him had never been seen before. It was a FANTASTIC game. When Nintendo announced a direct sequel, which until recently was a pretty big rarity with Mario, I was excited, but also curious to see what levels they could take the franchise without making it stale. As you have probably seen in recent times, the “New” Mario titles have become very stale after 4 VERY Similar iterations of the franchise. I am happy to say, even though I am late to the party, I’ve arrived, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 is better than it’s original, and is one of the most fantastic games I’ve ever experienced.

The best part of SMG2 is that the game is an evolution of the first one. The team saw the success of the game, what worked, what didn’t, and they improved upon it. What we have here is a game that 1. Takes complete advantage of everything the Wii has to offer, including graphics (this game is beautiful despite the Wii’s hardware limitations) 2. Controls, which are absolutely fantastic, and this coming from someone who truly despises Nintendo’s Wii controls, and 3. Introduces Mario to an audience that may have missed the first game, but were captivated by New Super Mario Bros Wii, and wanted to try something new.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 introduces players to Mario’s 3D elements in a smart, but not too hand holding way. They start you out simple, with a 2D side scrolling beginning, and begin to pull back the curtain, introducing more concepts into the game, preparing you for the grand adventure to come, and by the time they turn you loose, you’re prepared for most of what the game will throw at you.

One of the biggest changes you’ll notice in SMG2 compared to the first title, is the abandonment of the hub world. There is no longer a big overworld for you to find your next adventure. Perhaps in a move to make the game more streamlined to a more casual player, they have brought back familiar world selects, like the days of Super Mario Bros 3 or Super Mario World. This is fine with me, considering it’s easier to put the game down, go take a break and do something, maybe go watch a movie, or hang out with some friends, and then come back to the game later on, and not be completely disoriented by trying to remember where you left off and where you needed to go, but then again, I didn’t have that problem with Super Mario 64, and I was 12 when I played that game. Some people will love the level select, some people will hate it, and some people will not care either way, the latter of which I categorize myself.

My least favorite feature, one that has caused a lot of criticism from long time hardcore players towards Nintendo, is the extreme hand holding measures this game implements throughout your journey. While I mentioned earlier the game does a good job of introducing elements to players, and slowly lets go of your hand, giving you free reign, they introduce a feature here that’s just said. If you die too many times in a particular level, the game offers to play the level for you, and beat that particular mission, giving you a star, but not a golden star you’d normally get on your own. This is absurd, I can appreciate hints, and the hints are here too in the form of monitors that show you how certain objectives play out, which, while a bit much, are HELPFUL, but don’t do it for you, the “play for me” feature will do ALL the work for you, and while it doesn’t reward you with a normal star, it’s just crazy to think Nintendo would put that much help in the game. If they ever did this for The Legend of Zelda, I’d probably lose my shit on them.

“Hello, I will be beating “X” level for you today!”

The level design in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is brilliant, a mixture of new and old, familiar elements of the first title are all over here, like flinging Mario back and forth towards different planets of all shapes and sizes. It’s amazing how smooth and fantastic this games, and plays. The camera is fantastic, handling all the switching between 2D and 3D with ease, as well as all the movement going on around it. This game does so much, so well, that you wonder how other games get a pass for not taking on as much as Mario Galaxy 2 does. It’s simply brilliant.

Yoshi is introduced in the game, and his controls feel familiar, even though they are finely tuned, compared to the trainwreck that was Yoshi in Super Mario Sunshine. It’s smooth sailing, and even though not all of the levels feature Yoshi, the ones that do are seemless, introducing elements like Yoshi’s ability to blow up like a balloon and float throughout the level, or his ability to light up platforms that otherwise wouldn’t exist, giving you many advantages and uses for Mario’s green dinosaur friend. Yoshi’s familiar tongue lash is handled with the Wii remote, and works just as well as using the remote to pick up star bits. Everything about him is handled well, integrating him into a very established game, very effectively. Mario also receives some new power ups, like the Cloud Suit, giving you the ability to create platforms, or the Rock Suit, giving you a nifty rock attack that proves useful in some tight situations later on in the game.

While the game is certainly accessible to all players, if you’re a hardcore gamer, like myself, you’ll get the most out of Mario Galaxy 2. Hidden coins called “Comet Coins” can be collected in each level, opening up different challenges for the player to collect. Also, if you collect all 120 stars, you can unlock the even harder challenges the game has to offer. I was also happy to see you could unlock Luigi to play as, even if it was a little later in the game than I would have liked. Super Luigi Galaxy 2 sounds even more appealing than Mario Galaxy 2, if I do say so myself! Hey, we are getting New Super Luigi Bros, so maybe a Super Luigi Galaxy isn’t too far off!

I approve

Super Mario Galaxy lives up to the hype, and surpasses the game in which it succeeds. Nintendo is good at one thing, and that’s making quality first person titles. They seriously looked at the first game, found everything they didn’t like about it, and improved it, and here is what we get, a polished, beautiful, interactive beast of a game that is a must own if you have a Wii. Seriously, if you have a Wii, or a Wii U (It is 2013, after all,) you owe it to yourself to have this game. You’re not only playing the best game the Wii has to offer, but one of the best games of this generation. To all the people who criticize Nintendo, saying they’ve lost their touch, or to a greater extent, their minds, take a good long look at Super Mario Galaxy 2, and prepare to have your mind blown. It’s epic, for sure.

Treeter’s Score: 9.5

Demon’s Souls Review – Playstation 3

Originally published on 5/16/2013

Yep, no words. For the last 25-30 hours, I’ve had the shit kicked out of me, fell into so many pits I lost count, and been attacked by “invaders” after having just got my body back. I took more punishment from these 25-30 hours of game time than I have in the last several years of playing video games. Demon’s Souls has kicked my ass, over and over, and over again, and I loved every minute of it.

A 2009 title released by From Software with little hype, Demon’s Souls dared to challenge us, bringing us back to the days of old, when video games were actually difficult. Gone are checkpoints, as are the hand holding ways that we see so much of in this current generation. No, Demon’s Souls punishes you for failing, and it lays on the hurt, and damn, as punishing as it is, I can’t help but smile. I haven’t played a game this abusively challenging in years, and what amazes me even more, is I hear Dark Souls is even harder than this, so, yeah, I’ve got even more hours of getting my ass kicked ahead of me…if I want to play Dark Souls II.

I hate to say this, but because of this game’s difficulty, I was so involved in the gameplay, and avoiding getting my ass destroyed, that I didn’t pay much attention to the story. From what I gathered, King Allant XII, was a greedy douche, who did some sort of Dark ritual, that eventually led this fog to cover the whole land. With the fog, comes many demons, including “The Old One”, a being that lives under The Nexus. You are a “brave warrior”, who has entered the Kingdom with intents to save the land from the evil fog and all of the enemies it brings. Unfortunately, as you experience in the game’s tutorial, you’re slain, either by a Vanguard, or if you happen to kill him (HAHAHAHA GOOD LUCK!), something else will cause you to meet your end…which I didn’t experience because the Vanguard absolutely demolished me.

 I got used to this, within an hour of the game. It’s the most common thing you’ll see in Demon’s Souls.

The game is so brutal, in every aspect you can think of. There is no pause, so, in reality, there is no safety, unless you’re in the hub world of The Nexus, otherwise, you’re fair game. When you hit start, you bring up your inventory, character status, among other things, but you are not safe from dying. This game is going to punish you, in every aspect it can possibly throw at you. When you die at the beginning of the game, you begin in “spirit form”, not having your full health, and you’re tasked with killing the first boss to recover your body, which is a giant blob, and challenging it is… So yeah, that’s how it works, if you happen to die, you’re in spirit form until you either kill a boss, or use an item to revive yourself. You keep your equipment and whatnot, but you’re life bar is at 50% and can go no higher (unless you find particular items that give you more health in spirit form).

Throughout Demon’s Souls, you collect the titular item, which acts as your currency. You use Demon Souls to buy items, weapons, upgrade weapons (along with other materials) and level up. It’s a simple resource, and even when you add in the crafting materials, it doesn’t get overwhelming, which is good. What is unfortunate though (and again, adds to the punishment this game dishes out) is the fact that you lose all the Demon Souls you collect when you die. It’s encouraged to upgrade/stock up often, because if you die (and you will die unexpectedly, a LOT), you lose all your Demon Souls, and let out a few curse words too.

 I remember turning stumbling upon this and thinking “Holy shit, this is not where I parked my car!” 

Combat itself in Demon’s Souls is a bit intimidating, because it’s more realistic, and one wrong move can mean your death. You have your typical Health/Magic/Stamina bars, and everything you do drains your stamina…quickly. A couple swings of your weapon and you’re out of stamina. Blocking can even drain your stamina, sending you reeling and open for a slaughtering of attacks. The combat is rewarding however, because of how complicated it is, and it makes every battle mean something. Don’t overlook the zombie-like “grunts” of this game. They can just as easily kill you as the giant boss in Level 4. That’s what makes this game a pure joy to play, anything and everything poses a threat. I’ve battled enemies and tried to maneuver away from them, and ended up falling to my death. Your surroundings are just as dangerous as your enemies, making for a game that requires every bit of attention you have.

I went with a melee character for my playthrough of Demon’s Souls, and one playthrough took me a LOT of hours, so I am sorry to say I didn’t play a caster/ranged class and I wish I had, but I am pressed for time here, unfortunately. The melee classes I think are more interesting (I did try a caster for a few minutes, and was bored, very quickly). The game does offer you the ability to start as a melee based class, and start pouring upgrades into any of the 8 attributes. When you upgrade/level up, the cost of upgrading increases, so, plan your stats accordingly, it’s best to focus on certain stats rather than mix among all 8, obviously. Melee has a lot more variety to it, to me, as every weapon feels unique and has it’s own ways of working. Two handed melee is a completely different ballgame from 1 handed combat w/ a Shield, the latter of which I did. It’s just a testament to how much variety this game offers and the replayability, if you’re insane enough to go through this game multiple times.

One of the more interesting things about Demon’s Souls is it’s interesting take on multiplayer. I did not have much experience as a whole with the system, but I did notice that, when you’re “alive”, you can recruit people into your game to help you take down tough spots in different levels, and while the recruited people cannot get any items, they do get Demon Souls, so it’s not a wasted experience for them either. There is no ways of communication, besides some basic stuff making use of the PS3 controller, but the few times I played with buddies, I hate to say I cheated and used Skype (respect the honesty, though!), so I had a way around it, but if you’re looking for the true experience, you’ll find there is no communication to be had! Bloodstains throughout the world let you click and see how various players in similar situations met their untimely demise, giving you a sense of dread of the things ahead. You’ll also periodically see other players doing battle in their own world, which is a cool addition, just the way it blends everything in the game together. Neat feature!

You’ll see this fellow a lot throughout the game, and he gets pissed everytime you don’t buy something from him. He’s just an old douche!

I did not experience any griefing in this game, but I have heard some stories about higher level players invading games, and ruining it for other players. If you go down the “Dark Path”, you have the option to invade other’s games and dice them up, pissing them off, and making yourself feel better. It’s a douche move to say the least, but I didn’t encounter it in my travels, probably because the game has been out almost four years, so I’m probably safe from all the hardcores, that or I’m just extremely lucky. Now someone who reads this blog is gonna make a point to come out and find me and destroy me. Way to go Treeter!

Technically, I will give the game a paragraph, because that’s all it needs. Framerate hiccups are present, giving it a bit of a bumpy ride throughout. The graphics are nothing amazing, having been out four years ago, I’m sure it was good during it’s time, but I wonder even then if it was top of the line graphics. The audio is alright, with some dreary music giving you an idea of how bleak this world really is, with some subpar voice acting, but it doesn’t matter, that’s not what you’re here for, you’re here for the challenge, the dying, and the satisfaction of taking out that brutal boss…only to fall in a pit and die minutes later. Son of a bitch!

Demon’s Souls is a brutal game. That’s the best thing I can say to summarize it. It’s brutal, it’s tough, and it’s one of the harder games I’ve played recently. I hear Dark Souls is harder, which makes me look forward to the future (not). With personal events coming up in life, I probably won’t have much time to give to Dark Souls, so it’ll have to come later, but I do plan on playing it. Demon’s Souls should be looked at for it’s charm, and it’s difficulty. If you want something challenging, you’ll find everything you want here, and more. You will die, a lot, but you’ll come back for more, because this game begs you to, it offers so much in combat and classes that you’ll stick around for a while. Just watch out for those damn cliff edges, they got the better of me in this game!

Treeter’s Score: 9

Injustice: Gods Among Us Review – Playstation 3

Originally published on 4/22/2013

The last time Netherealm Studios had anything to do with creating a DC fighting game, we got the disaster known as Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. It failed on many fronts, a lot of MK fans wanted the opportunity to perform fatalities on Superman, while a lot of DC purists didn’t want their beloved heroes near Johnny Cage’s stupid gimmick. It’s understandable, and the game didn’t make a big splash, it’s a bargain bin title at best, and even Walmart gave it away for free, for purchasing Injustice. Netherealm didn’t give up though, and in 2011, they released Mortal Kombat 9, bringing the franchise that put them on the map back to its roots, and it was and still is, my favorite fighting game, of ever. Yes, I don’t like Street Fighter, or MVC3, or any of those games, I’m a Mortal Kombat guy, to the end, and I’ve put many an hour into MK9, climbing up the challenge ladder, fighting online, or playing with buddies (the same can be said about the Vita version as well). Netherealm wanted a second chance at making a good fighting game with DC characters, and WB gave it to them. What we got was a solid fighting game, with some minor issues, that is a DC Comics fanboy’s wet dream.

I’ll start with the story first. Yes, there is a story, and it’s very similar in breakdown to Mortal Kombat 9’s story mode, although a LOT shorter. It is broken down by chapters, but also a cool little touch was added in the chapter select screen to make it seem like a movie. I like the story, I really do. I can’t get into deep details because I’ll spoil it, and it’s something everyone should experience that plays this game. It involves multiple universes and if you’re familiar with the main players in DC Comics, you’ll be surprised to see their actions in this game, it’s really shocking, but also incredibly bad ass. One of the more disappointing things about story mode, to me, is the fact that it’s 1. Short, and 2. You don’t play as every character throughout the story. You play mainly as the good guys, or more popular characters, and you even play as one character more than once throughout the story. It’s a little disappointing, but doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the story itself.

The amount of modes in Injustice is staggering. The traditional ladder returns, as “Battle” with a lot of interesting options, most of them waiting to be unlocked (more on that later). You’ll find a traditional ladder where you fight many opponents along with a boss (usually Superman in my experience). If you want to mix it up and try some different types of battles, you can do things like “Poisoned” which constantly drains your health as you fight up the ladder, or something like “Random Fighter” where every fight in the battle gives you a different random fighter. This is one of MANY examples of the battle system, there are many options, and some of them are very difficult, but you can spend a lot of time in battle mode. It’s one of my favorite parts of the game, hands down. When you finish Battle mode, you get an ending for every character, which most of them are disappointing. I was hoping for some cutscenes, and not still images, so, I could do without those endings. I just felt like the still image endings with narrative was kind of a cheap way to give these characters proper endings, but then again, they did it in Mortal Kombat as well. It’s just kind of….lame.

Remember the challenge ladder from MK9? I beat all 300 levels of it, and it frustrated the piss out of me. Well, it returns in Injustice, as STAR Labs, and adds a star system. Each mission has 3 stars for you to achieve, most of them require you playing the mission again but going about winning it a different way. Things like: Beat Batman without being hit by a Batarang are what challenges consist of, or win the fight only throwing punches, or, win by a throw…various things that range from easy to hard depending on the mission conditions. I have not 3star’d all of these missions yet, as some of them are causing me to nerd rage, so, they are fun, and a big challenge.

Once you’ve exhausted all the single player options (good luck with that) you can move on to the multiplayer, where most people already spend much of their time with this game. You can do your standard local versus if you have some buddies over, and that’s a lot of fun. One thing missing from this game is tag-team style fights, something I really enjoyed in Mortal Kombat 9. You can also hop online and prepare for a pretty awesome time. I rarely noticed any lag in ranked or player matches, and that’s essential for fighting games. While I don’t play the particular genre much online (the thought of me playing UMvC3 online is laughable), I do enjoy this fighting style of games, so I jumped in to try, and I’ve been impressed with both the performance of the online infrastructure, and how well I can hold my own online. I’ve done particularly good with Green Lantern, and Raven, but I still can get my ass handed to me by the Combo Kings.

Online mode features a couple of match types, for one, Ranked matches which is the competitive portion of the game, and then player matches, which don’t really keep it competitive, just fun and entertaining. There’s 1v1 matches, King of the Hill, and Survivor, which feature Lobbys that keep the people not playing entertained while they wait for their turn to fight the winner/loser of the match. It’s a fun experience, and something I can see myself jumping into more often. I don’t really do much gaming on PSN, but that is changing now that I rid myself of the Xbox 360. I’ve found their servers (PSN) to be very good, and capable, especially in this game. There are leaderboards, the ability to create private lobbies for you and other fiends who may not be at your house, among other things. It’s a fairly meaty online section in a game that will keep you coming back for the foreseeable future.

The gameplay in this game is very good, and you’ll be very familiar if you played Mortal Kombat, but do note some of the changes in this game. There is no block button, instead you press down and/or back to block high/low attacks respectively. This is a bit annoying to me, as I am not a big fighting game player, and I was rather spoiled by Mortal Kombat’s block button. I missed it, but I got used to it in the end. I still would have preferred a dedicated block button, but that’s the fighting game noob in me, can’t help it. Bone Breaking moves in Mortal Kombat return in Injustice, in the form of “Super Moves”. The concept is the same, you get a character specific move if you manage to hit your opponent with it (using R2+L2). A new featured called “Clash” has been added, giving you a chance to get some health back, while interrupting an opponent’s attack. You can wager bars in you “Super Move” meter, by pressing a respective button, and whoever wagers the most, gets the upperhand. It could result in a tie, which doesn’t punish either player, or you could not want to wager any “Super Move” power and just take the hit, it’s up to you, but if you win, you get a little health back, which is always helpful. Every character also has a “character power” which is assigned to Circle (B for Xbox 360, A for WiiU). These involve various powers that depend on who you’re playing as. Superman for example, gains a strength boost, along with glowing red, Batman activates some bats that surround him and can be thrown at his opponent, and Nightwing even changes weapons/fighting styles by using said power.

The roster size is good, in my opinion, featuring 24 of DC’s best fighters. The most recognizable franchise in DC Comics is undoubtedly Batman, and I for one am glad they didn’t overload the game with Batman characters (Some say they did anyways…as Batman, Nightwing, Bane, Catwoman, Joker and Harley Quinn fill the roster, that’s 6 of 24 spots, but it could be way worse) One of the reasons is because honestly, DC Comics doesn’t have as many recognizable characters like Marvel does. You’ve got your Supermans, Wonder Womans, and Green Lanterns, but they also brought in some lesser known characters, like Hawkgirl, Solomon Grundy, Raven and Shazam. I think the roster is pretty good, although I’m not the biggest DC fan, I can appreciate them adding in some characters you don’t know much about to help the get the fanbase familiarized with characters we could potentially see on the big screen one day. It’s a respectable roster, and with 4 more characters coming through DLC (Lobo being the first one confirmed), the roster will expand just a bit more. Each character has many alternate costumes as well, that can be unlocked through various modes in the game, by preorder bonuses, or by playing the Injustice Mobile App.

Throughout your time with Injustice, you’ll notice a card at the top left/right (depending on what player you are) corner of your screen that acts as an experience bar. Everything you do in this game gets you experience, leveling up your card, unlocking different portraits, emblems, and backgrounds, giving you many MANY customization options for your Hero card. The amount of unlockables in this mode alone is staggering, as there’s an icon for doing just about everything, from performing your first “Super Move”, to winning 50 matches as Batman in online matches. Other unlockables are in the Archives, and you’ll get various cards throughout the game than you can use to unlock alternate costumers, background music, and concept art. It’s like the vault, but the MK9 graveyard, but a little more simplified, and not as much content to unlock. It’s still rewarding, but with DC being as big as it is, I kind of expected a little more in terms of what you could unlock.

Injustice: Gods Among us is first and foremost, a good fan service to DC Comic fans. It has a lot of content, a movie-like story with a satisfying beginning,middle and ending, plus a pretty good chunk of unlockables. The good gameplay keeps you wanting to come back for me, coupled with a very smooth online experience with a lot of fun options, you’ll spend a lot of time with this one, if DC Comics are your type of thing. I enjoyed it, and I will continue to play it, but I think I prefer Mortal Kombat 9 in the end. It’s a little faster than Injustice, and I’m a big fan of the Mortal Kombat characters, compared to the DC Comics one. I recommend this game to anyone who’s a fan of DC Comics, or fighting games, looking for a good experience, a challenge (Seriously, the STAR Labs has some challenging mission objectives, and Battle Mode can be an absolute bitch…) and a lot of longevity. This fighting game is definitely the one fans deserve…and the one it needs right now …yeah. It’s worth a shot.

Treeter’s Score: 8.2

Treeter Ramblings 3 – Really just a bunch of Rambling

It’s been over a month since I bid farewell to my Xbox 360, and all the games, and all the memories. Do I miss it? Somewhat, but not severely enough for me to regret the decision, I justified why I got rid of it in my last ramblings blog, and I don’t have an inch of regret for doing it. Xbox Live and the social interaction is all I miss, and I am hoping the Playstation 4 provides enough social interaction (Party chat, Facebook/Twitter integration) that will fill the void for me. The one true thing I miss is having HBO Go on a TV, now everything I watch on HBO is streamed through the iPad. A minor annoyance, but nothing more.

I bid my OCD for Achievements goodbye as well, and since then, I’ve noticed something on Playstation 3 that bothers me a bit, but I’m doing nothing to fix. My trophy % in games is TERRIBLE. I see so many 0% and no game except Mass Effect 2 is over 50%, I just don’t aim for trophies in PS3 games. Does that mean I don’t get the most out of them? No. I feel like every PS3 game I’ve played (that I wasn’t trashing in a review) gave me my money’s worth, trophies aside. It just bothers me, and brings up some old OCD feelings seeing all those empty lame ass trophy scores in my games. This late in the console’s cycle though, I don’t feel inclined to do anything about it.

I guess that’s where I’ve made improvements. With the Xbox 360, I wouldn’t move on to a game unless I got around 80% or more of the Achievements, because it didn’t feel complete to me. That sometimes burnt me out on the type of game I was playing. I spent so many hours on Gears of War 3 grinding out the most pointless of achievements, and looking back on it now, I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking, because I never was going to get Seriously 3.0 (seriously, look it up, not a chance in hell), so why I kept forcing myself to play it even after most of my friends had quit playing was beyond me. Whatever, I don’t care…it’s in the past.

Still, something chirps at me every now and then when I look at my PS3 trophy list. It’s an itch I want to scratch, but then I snap back to reality. That’s the old Treeter, the new Treeter is looking forward to the new generation of hardware, and whatever the trophy/achievement system brings with it. I like the idea of Trophies and Achievements, it adds extra incentive to games, but when you have the tendency I do to care more about the achievements than the actual games themselves, you lose track of what the system should be, an incentive, not a grind. I don’t ever want to play a game again to grind achievements/trophies. I am done with that (oh, hello World of Warcraft).

I have surprised myself at the amount of reviews I’ve pumped out in a relatively short amount of time. Dishonored, Heavy Rain, Hitman Absolution all done. I just finished Guacamelee, but I don’t know if I am going to be reviewing it. It was a good game and if I had to give it a score, it’d get an 8.5/10. It was a solid metroidvania style game with a lot of humor and a lot of references. If you’re itching for something to play on PSN (It’s crossbuy as well, PSVita and 3, and you can use the Vita as a controller for the PS3 version) check it out, it’s also on sale for PS+ members (11.99). I’ve started playing Injustice: Gods Among Us, and possibly will have the review done by the end of the weekend, but early next week is more likely. After that, there’s a bit of a drought until The Last of Us. I think Donkey Kong Country 3DS comes out in May, but I am not totally sure.

I want to do something special for E3, but that totally depends on Baby Gibson and when she decides to enter the world. I really am excited about becoming a dad, and although it will cut into gaming time, there’s no better reason to give up gaming for a while than to spend my time with my daughter. I am excited and ready for the challenges of being a parent.

Short ramblings tonight, it’s late, I’m tired and It’s time to head to bed. Tomorrow is more homework, and more Injustice. Sounds like an action packed day, I also need to check out Mad Men Season 6, episodes 1, 2 and 3. I started watching the first but got halfway through it and wanted to play some Injustice, so that’s that. Oh well, until the next time. Thanks for reading!

Hitman: Absolution Review – PC

Originally published on 4/15/2013

It took a conversation with a buddy to realize that this is just the second Hitman game to be released this generation. I didn’t even realize it. I was stunned, then I remembered back. I still lived in my upstairs bedroom at my parent’s house when I played the last Hitman game; Blood Money. I was still sporting my OG Xbox 360, a 42′ Samsung DLP HDTV (1 HDMI port, capable of only 720p) and I wasn’t married yet. Holy hell, it feels like a lifetime ago when you start thinking of all those things. Blood Money was one of my favorite early current gen games, giving me so many options to take out my targets, and even though it had some of the most clunky controls in existence, it was FUN! Fast forward to today…well, a few months ago, really, but I am backlog blitzing my way through this title, and Agent 47 returns, with better controls, better environments, and an overall better experience.

Agent 47 starts the game by assassinating someone within the Agency who has gone traitor, and taken an extremely valuable asset, gone rogue, and is hiding out. Your goal is to take out the rogue agent, obtain the asset and return it to the Agency. Of course it doesn’t go as planned, and you begin a long route to taking out all the true villains, and some morons along the way, in a story of betrayal, hidden agendas and terribly bad scripting. Yes, Hitman: Absolution’s story is it’s weakest point, going over the top with some of the people you encounter (Limp Dick Lenny… all I’m going to say) and their intentions throughout the story. While the story obviously isn’t the focal point of this game, something has to be presented here, and while it’s passable, most of the story had me rolling my eyes. If it does anything at all, it makes you feel no remorse for some of the targets you’re assigned to take out.

Gameplay however, is the absolute shining point of Absolution. Everything feels….smooth. When you think of Blood Money, you probably have good memories of a good game, with some bad controls, whether it be sneaking up on enemies, or the lack of a proper cover system, Blood Money suffered from these things. Absolution does not, you cling to cover, able to maneuver to different points at the tap of a button. Movement, whether it be walking or crouching is no longer “Resident Evil”-y, you move about with some finesse. Sneaking up on targets and choking them out with your signature Fiber Wire is a cinch, just as disposing their bodies in a cabinet or storage locker is as well. Everything about how you move and interact with the environment in Absolution is spot on, exactly what I would have expected from the game.

Hitman: Absolution, to stealth purists, is a game of Trial and Error, but not in a bad way. When I restarted levels due to being spotted (I went through a couple of levels, aiming for this challenge – more on those later, to have an overall experience), I was not frustrated, I learned something, and when I started over I remembered how that particular enemy patrolled, what directions they were looking, and I used that in reference to going through the level again. If you’re going for an Infiltrator award, for not being spotted, prepare to restart at previous checkpoints often, which, while the idea of restarting isn’t very annoying, the checkpoint system is. In a certain area, there are 1 or 2 logos you can click on that give you a checkpoint to that point. Whatever you’ve done, whether it be killing a couple guards, or hidden a few, picked up a couple of items, whatever it may be, is saved at that particular point. While that may be helpful in some situations, in others it isn’t, because you may regret having taken out that particular guard, or not picked up that C4 when you had the chance, and from the moment you click the checkpoint until you finish the level, you’re stuck in that state. It can be frustrating. What also is frustrating is not reaching a checkpoint meter, and being spotted, after having progressed through a big chunk of the level, and having to restart and doing some things over again. In short, the game needs a more consistent check point system.

While the game obviously is best played through stealth means, going all out and killing everyone is possible, and works well. You can grab a machine gun, or shotgun and go balls to the wall killing anyone and everyone in sight. The game only punishes you in the sense that you lose points in your overall score. If that doesn’t concern you, go crazy and kill all them sum’ bitches. The cover system works, the aiming works, as well as the addition of a slow motion killing feature, similar to Splinter Cell: Conviction’s. You press a button, and you can aim, and put a mark on several enemies, then hit the button again and you’ll enter a kill-cam style scene where you shred everyone you targeted. This is cool, and fun to pull off if you happen to alert several guards in the area, and are looking for a quick way to dispatch them. Like I said, shooting up everything is an option, just don’t expect to top any leader boards.

The Point Shoot option uses your “Instinct Meter” which also servers as a “source” so to speak for your disguises. When you grab a disguise in Hitman, and you walk by someone with a similar outfit on, they’ll notice you’re not who they’re used to seeing and take note. The instinct meter allows you to blend in, in turn causing them to ignore you and not pay you any attention. The meter depletes fairly quickly, but can be restored by silent takedowns, accomplishing objectives and a variety of other means. The disguise system works well enough on Normal and Hard difficulties, but later on the instinct meter seemed to deplete a lot quicker, making the whole system in general kind of fail. Prepare for a challenge if you rely on disguises entirely. Forewarned!

Hitman: Absolution features a lot of replayability, which I liked. I enjoyed looking through the challenges, which vary every level, from things like not being spotted, to finding all the items a level, like various weapons for distractions, or evidence, which is the collectible item in Absolution. Other challenges include taking out the various targets by less than normal means. Using rat poison in someone’s drink for example to kill them would be a challenge, or killing people by choking them out. There are enough challenges in each level, and enough variety within the challenges, and the levels themselves that you’ll spend countless hours trying to beat them. This is a good example of replayability, because it doesn’t burn you out on the game, and you’ll get the sense of accomplishment, which I sure did, by doing the challenges.

If you’re bored with the campaign, give the Contracts a try, which is as close to online interaction as this franchise has ever gotten. You can do contracts set up by anyone online, giving you goals, people to assassinate and a small backstory about the person you’re assassinating. You’ll have timed goals, and you can compare your score to anyone else who has accomplished the contract, and you’ll see a US and World average much like the scores in the campaign itself. It’s as close to Sandbox as this game is going to get. One of the annoying things about Contracts mode is the fact that you have to use the game’s levels, and not new designed levels. One of my favorite levels from Blood Money was the suburban neighborhood, and I was hoping for some variety of that, at least in contracts mode. You can pick the NPCs, the items, anything really, within one of the game’s campaign levels, and set the goals from there. It’s a neat system, and has some longevity built into it.

Graphically and Audio wise, the game looks and sounds good. It’s not the best graphics you’ll see, especially on the console, but on a powerful enough PC, it can be a beauty to behold, especially in the CG cutscenes. The voice acting is passable, 47 sounding pretty intimidating and non-caring, and the music works, especially in moments with the tense building, with accompanying music. As I said, on a good PC, you’ll see some amazing shadow qualities, but the models themselves look kind of plastic, especially one of the enemies in particular. Agent 47 himself looks good, but a lot of the enemies are too shiny…

Hitman: Absolution is worth your time and attention if you appreciate games giving you many options to accomplish an overall goal. There are many ways to take out every target and every level, and some of them are truly genius, if you’re willing to put forth the effort to accomplishing them. If you’re not, you can go about it your own way, and unless you’re going on an all out rampage, you won’t be punished as such. The game encourages you to play it your way, and the trial and error is not punishing, nor frustrating, it’s fun to realize something slight you may have missed and remember to implement whatever change in tactics you adjust to it the next time around. A game like that, in which you can fail, and not be immediately sent into a state of nerd rage, is a rewarding, fun, and brutal experience!

Treeter’s Score: 8.6

Heavy Rain Review – Playstation 3

Originally published on 4/10/2013

Treeter’s Backlog Blitz continues with Heavy Rain, a game not even on my radar, but again, with the insistence that I play it from Thomas, I decided to give it a shot. I liked The Walking Dead from Telltale a lot and I’ve seen some comparisons between the two, both being heavily story focused, with very light gameplay. Let’s be clear, the similarities end right there. The Walking Dead felt like the complete package in that regard. Heavy Rain, while featuring a fantastic narrative, falls so short on how it controls, and being that it’s a video game, no matter how much or how little gameplay is involved, it’s important for it to work.

Heavy Rain is an early 2010 release from Quantic Dream that follows four characters as they try and track down a serial killer referred to as the Origami Killer, because…you guessed it, he leaves Origami’s in the hands of all his victims. I’ll give a brief introduction to all four characters with some comments on them without spoiling much:

• Ethan Mars: If I had to pick one of the four you play as to be the “main character” it would be Ethan, mainly because he’s central focus of the overall plot. Ethan is an architect that lives with his wife and two sons. Struck with tragedy early on in the game, Ethan is definitely one of the more interesting characters, as he experiences blackouts, ends up in strange places, and it seems his life is in a major crisis. When one of his sons may end up being the target of the Origami killer, Ethan must be willing to give up a whole lot to save him in the end!
• Scott Shelby: A former police officer turned Private Investigator, Shelby is hired by the family’s of the victims of the Origami Killer to track him down and bring him in! He eventually is aided by one of the victim’s mothers, Lauren Hunter, for the remainder of the game.
• Norman Jayden: An FBI agent with a terrible Boston Accent, Nahmin has come to town to set up shop and find the Killer himself. Armed with a pair of AR glasses and a glove to accommodate them, he uses the AR device to enhance his crime solving abilities, while also struggling with an apparent drug addiction. He becomes partners with Lt. Blake of the police force, who dislikes almost immediately.
• Maddison Paige: A Photojournalist who suffers from Insomnia, having to check into cheap motels just to get her rest. She becomes attached to Ethan and befriends him throughout the game, helping him in any way she can. She eventually starts to suspect a lot in the case, and takes matters into her own hands.

Each of the four characters are unique, interesting and give you a lot to think about. Obviously Scott Shelby and Norman Jayden are professionals, and have their means to get the results they’re looking for, Madison is just a photojournalist, which makes her rely on her other “assets” to get more information. You really get to see the sense of struggling and dread within Ethan as the events of the game unfold, I think out of all the characters, I had the most attachment to him, I felt for him, I sympathized for him, and I feared for him. Props to Quantic Dream for creating such realistic characters.

The unique thing about this game is the switching back and forth between characters, and the way it works makes it feel so close to a movie, and that’s a cool feeling. All four characters are after the same end goal, finding the killer and the boy he has captured, and saving his life, but they all go about different methods, and ways to track the killer down. I loved the story myself, and I was completely caught off guard by the revelation near the game’s finale. It was definitely startling, but you’ll get a sense of closeness with these characters, and you’ll either grow to love or hate them, because they’re so realistic in their movements, facial features and dialogue, they seem real. Another thing that is not commonly seen in games is the absence of a win/fail scenario. The narrative will continue no matter what happens. It is possible for characters to die, for you to fail an objective, it doesn’t matter, the story will continue on and adjust. There are several possible endings, and while most of them are similar, and everything leads to one revelation, it is cool to know that you’ll get to the revelation possibly in a different manner than a buddy did in their playthrough.

While this game is definitely not bad to look at graphically, it does suffer from some framerate issues, which is disappointing because there’s really never anything big going on at any given time. The amount of pop in for this game is absolutely mind boggling, I think almost every scene switch in the game had some sort of pop-in 3-5 seconds into the scene, which was distracting. The faces in the loading screens were definitely very impressive, showing off a very big amount of graphical power in the PS3, which, in 2010, is nice to see! Also, the loading screens are also on the long side, as it’s probably loading most of the particular chapter at a time, but it’s still disappointing to have such long load times, and then such a giant amount of pop in…just disappointing.

Gameplay is my biggest complaint with this game. It’s not the focus, which is fine, I don’t expect every game to revolve around the gameplay. They were obviously going for a fantastic story here, and they succeeded. Unfortunately, bad gameplay almost ruined the whole experience for me. For one, the way you move is the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen. You hold R2, and tilt the joystick in which direction you want to move. You don’t have to hold the joystick in that direction, you just tilt it which way you want to go, then let go and the character walks that way. I don’t understand it, I don’t get why they couldn’t do regular movement like every other game in existence. The pacing of the gameplay is also slow, and in some situations it seems that way to drag out the game. When I say the pacing of the gameplay, I’m referring to the characters moving in slow motion, and taking forever to move. Some of the smallest things require button presses to make happen. Climbing up a set of rocks requires alternating pressing L1 and R1, and then timing a Triangle, Square and X button press at the right moment. Seriously, to climb a rock, you have to do all that, and it’s absolutely ridiculous.

Throughout the game you interact with various objects in the environment, usually by pressing the right joystick in a random direction. This works fine and I had no complaints about that. What does bother me though is during quick time events, usually fights, or heavily scripted scenarios, the game requires you to press buttons to move through the sequence. While this is fine in theory, it doesn’t work that well. One, the prompts are fast, and the timer to hit them is a matter of 1-2 seconds, making it hard to keep up. Adding to the frustration is the fact that the icons of which buttons to press are hard to see, as in most situations the prompts are shaking, I guess indicating the character being frazzled or surprised. It adds a extra layer of difficulty because you have a limited amount of time to press a button, and then it’s hard to see which button to press because of the shaking. The display of the icons themselves are inside of a circle, so in rare situations when the “Circle” button was required to press, it was hard to tell which button TO press because of how it’s displayed. If any of that paragraph confused you, which it may have because I rambled, just know the controls, button prompts and everything accompanying it was VERY frustrating.

I spent most of the review complaining about the gameplay, which in my opinion ruins the whole experience. Unfortunately, Gameplay is important in video games, and while it’s possible to include light gameplay and create a fascinating game, I feel Quantic Dream dropped the ball here with the overall package. The story was phenomenal, riveting, and entertained me after I got past the first few boring hours. The gameplay just felt like a hindrance to the story, because the very quick button prompts, along with sometimes non functioning sixaxis responses may cause you to make a mistake, and in my case, lose one of the characters in the game. I didn’t get a chance to try the game with the Move controls (I bought the Director’s Cut, which features fully functional move controls), but since I don’t own the Move, I didn’t get a chance to try it.

Heavy Rain, as I mentioned earlier, features multiple endings, and if you’re a trophy hunter, you’ll find PLENTY of reason to come back to the game. A lot of chapters have very different scenarios and you can earn multiple trophies by doing things differently throughout the game. Keeping so and so alive, while letting another character die may result in a different trophy, and also a different ending, so the game has some great replay value if you want to see how everything can end. If you can get past the gameplay flaws, and really let yourself be carried away by the awesome story, Heavy Rain is something you’ll definitely enjoy. Unfortunately for me, I value gameplay above all else, and this game couldn’t even manage what little gameplay it had, to turn the experience into something I’d gladly go back and play one day. Now, when I think about Heavy Rain, the first thing I think of is how frustrated I was with the button prompts, and not how amazing the story was.

Treeter’s Score: 7

Dishonored Review – PC

Originally published on 4/8/2013

It’s Treeter’s Backlog blitz once again! I hadn’t intended on playing this game, but because of the insistence of some (Thomas), I figured I’d give it a shot. Dishonored is the type of game I want to like, and parts of it I do like, parts of it I absolutely can’t stand, and wonder why the game works like it does. The one thing I can say about Dishonored that needs to be said, is it gives you absolute choice over almost every aspect of the game. I’ll get into more detail a little later on. Coming fresh off Bioshock Infinite’s amazing gameplay – story – everything, I found myself comparing this game to the masterpiece I had just finished, which, while completely unfair to Dishonored, is something I kept running into and I couldn’t stop drawing comparisons. Did it affect my overall experience with Dishonored? Yes, but, some of my criticisms of this game I feel are founded, and while it’s not the best ever, it’s definitely a game worth playing. Why? Let’s take a look!

You are Corvo Attano, the Empress’ loyal protector and guardian. After arriving back in the port city of Dunwall, having done some work for the Empress, you are thrown right into the mix as the Empress is assassinated and it is quickly all put on you, and you’re thrown into jail. The people behind the attack make themselves known to you very quickly, thus setting the events in motion for Corvo to obtain his revenge, and you are soon introduced through notes to an accomplice, giving you a chance to escape jail, and your execution, and meet up with some unknown allies. Your adventure will take you throughout the Dunwall, where you will hunt for people responsible or having ties to the events that lead to the death of the Empress, and you’ll also have to rescue the Empress’ daughter Emily from the people responsible for carrying out her mother’s murder. Corvo and Emily are very close as characters, as evidenced in the beginning of the game, so you’re given the idea that this entire ordeal will become very personal for Corvo.

Soon after you escape your jail cell, you’re faced with a decision, how you want to proceed with this game. See, you can run through it and kill every single bastard that you come across, or you can sneak by everyone, knocking foes unconscious as you go by. It’s entirely possible, and worth it, to not kill a single enemy in the entirety of the game. It’s also more challenging, and certainly more rewarding. You could also do a mixture of both, depending on the situation you’re in, but it’s not recommended. At the end of each level you’re presented with a breakdown of how many people you killed, subdued, how many bodies were found, if you had achieved high or low chaos, and all the collectibles you found. The high or low chaos obviously is dependent on how many people you’ve murdered throughout the game. It does affect the ending, as does it affect people’s view of you throughout the story. Do you want to be remembered as the silent vigilante who won’t kill, but makes those who took out the empress pay, or do you want to be just as low as the people you’re after and assassinate everyone in your path? The choice is yours!

 ~This is one of those moments when you just know something bad is about to happen~

Again, this game offering you the choice to do things how you want is what makes it most awesome. The game offers various missions assigning you the goal of either killing or “getting rid of” a specific target. One particular mission has you going to a mask party, where your goal is to find one of three sisters who had something to do with the whole scheme in the game. You can go on a rampage, killing all the guards and and all of the three sisters to make sure you at least got the right one. Or you can sneak around, do some searching, and discover a man who has an infatuation with the guilty sister, then you can subdue her, take her to him and let him leave with his love in tow, never seeing her again. It’s non lethal, but just as punishing, for her. Another mission has you going after the High Overseer, a very powerful figure, obviously. You can poison his drink, sneak up behind him and slice his throat, or, with a little extra work, you can take out his guards, knock him unconscious, put him into a chair and brand his face, forever humiliating him, and causing him to leave his position. The choice is yours.

My first playthrough of Dishonored was a run through of the game on High Chaos. I killed every single guard, every single target, and even some unfortunate civilians got in my line of fire. I probably should have done a stealth playthrough my first time around and then done the high chaos one afterwards. I feel the stealth version of the game is more thought out than just going through and killing everyone. It’s more rewarding to do things quietly, because it’s more of a challenge. That’s not to say killing everything isn’t a challenge, but it’s more because the game is cheap as all hell when you’re engaging in combat. Enemies can and will hit you from 20 yards away. I can’t tell you how many times I was running from a guard, turned around to engage, blocked his first hit, and when he got knocked back, he swung again (He’s about 30 feet from me at this point), and I didn’t block, thinking, ugh, he’s too far away, no way he’ll hit. And yet, he made contact with me, taking half my health and enraging me beyond all belief. Once or twice, ok, I can live with it, but it happened entirely too much throughout the game. I played on Normal for the High Chaos playthrough, and got my ass handed to me. Whatever, I was pissed off for a while about the game, but then I played through the second time doing everything stealth, and found out how rewarding the game can be. It was worth it to play again, and completely changed my attitude about the game. As much as I like killing enemies in games, this one is better off going through in stealth.

 ~I got plans for that face ~

The options for how you take out your target are just the tip of the iceberg. The levels themselves are very open for you to traverse, you don’t have to go a specific route. You can climb over buildings, without ever alerting a guard, or you can sneak around on the ground, subduing guards left and right. You’ll encounter security points that have electric fences, searchlights, or other devices that you can A. Avoid, B. Destroy (usually by finding the source and removing a can of Whale Oil) or C. Hack them and use them against the guards. On my first playthrough it was ever so satisfying taking out a guard by hacking an electric fence and seeing him zapped and disintegrated. Satisfying to say the least.

So I’ve talked about the ways to accomplish your missions and moving around in the open world, but I haven’t really talked about your equipment, or abilities. You’ll get weapons like the sword (is it a knife? I think it’s called a knife, but it’s as long as a sword, at least to me it is), a pistol, a crossbow, which has different types of bolts (standard, sleep dart, and incendiary bolts), spring traps that will tear enemies to shreds, and also grenades. Then you’ll get “powers” as well, that really bring out the fun in the game. Blink is the most commonly used power, as it lets you zip across areas of the map, and reach areas otherwise unreachable. On my first playthrough I only used a couple of different powers, mostly blink, Dark Vision (Let’s you see enemies through walls), Vitality (Increases life), Agility (Speaks for itself, fast fast fast), and Bend Time (which lets you slow down time, fully powered up let’s you completely stop time). These powers can greatly affect the game. If you’re going for a no kill playthrough, obviously Bend time will help you get past areas with many guards, making it highly recommended to use throughout the game!)

Throughout the game, you’ll make contact with the Outsider, a supernatural being referred to as “half devil, half angel”, who appears before people in the real world and a dream world, but only people he finds “interesting”. He’ll give you a heart that lets you track down different runes and charms throughout the game. The runes are used to buy abilities and their higher powered version. There are several hidden throughout the many levels, and you can only find them while you’re playing that specific level, so if you have until you finish the level to find the ones in that particular area. The Charms are items you find that you can equip to give you several different perks, such as Faster climbing, more mana, or more health gained back from eating food. There are many in the game, and you start out only being able to equip 3, but eventually 6 can be equipped at one time.

The weapons and Corvo’s mask can also be upgraded via Piero, the local pub’s weird inventor. You can upgrade the capacity of ammo the pistol and crossbow can hold, Corvo’s zoom ability on his mask, as well as accuracy, improved armor, and lighter footsteps. Some of the upgrades he provides require blueprints found in various missions in the open world environments, so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

  ~Art at its finest!~

The graphics in the game are good, it’s got the steampunk environment feel to it, and the game shows off a real city in distress, affected by a deadly plague. I think the game is very impressive to behold, and playing it on PC lets you really pump up the graphics and see the real beauty. It’s a good looking game for sure, it won’t win any awards for standing out, but it won’t be hard to look at, either. Except for maybe the character models, some of these people are ugly as fuck. Voice quality is alright, no one stands out in particular, and Corvo is a silent protagonist so you don’t ever hear from him. The music does its just, and sound cues from when you alert a guard, and assassinate or take out your targets also compliment the overall game. The game does a nice job of presenting the guards going about their normal day, having conversations about the happenings in the city, as well as warnings of an “assassin on the loose”. It creates the sense of a realistic environment, so you’re not taken out of the experience, at all.

As far as Collectibles, there are the Charms and Runes you can hunt with the Heart given to you by the Outsider, as well as paintings that net you gold, and Outsider markings you can find throughout the world. Side quests are in the game, but mostly relate to the main quest, giving you alternate options for taking out your targets. You’ll meet some very interesting characters throughout the game, such as the weird as all hell Granny Rags, a worshiper of the Outsider, and also Griff, who is a merchant you can buy items from throughout missions. Samuel, your boat driver, builds a relationship with Corvo throughout the game (he basically drives you to every mission), and on the final mission, will make a comment about the person Corvo has become throughout the game, (hint: Killing everyone in the game is not going to make Samuel a very happy camper).

I hated Dishonored after my first playthrough. I thought it was a bland game, with terrible gameplay, and unrealistic combat. I was infuriated. Then I played through again doing everything low chaos, not killing a single enemy, taking alternate means to accomplish mission objectives, and I feel a lot more satisfied with the game. So, while the low chaos method is more for me, some may prefer the high chaos madness, and that’s fine. I think the game is better designed when doing everything low chaos, than it is high chaos, because the AI is designed it seems for a stealthy approach. The fact that Arkane Studios is giving the player so much choice in how he/she approaches Dishonored, I can’t help but tip my hat to them for that, it’s a good thing to give the player choice. With so many franchises going the linear route, Dishonored is a standout game with an open world full of stealth, or all out madness….remember, it’s your choice!

Treeter’s Score: 8.5

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon Review – Nintendo 3DS

Originally published on 4/1/2013

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed the Super Mario Bros franchise. I started playing it when I was just three years old, I was a Triple T….Tiny Toddler Treeter, and my Dad had an NES, and would play Super Mario Bros. For the longest time I would use the second controller and “pretend” I was playing, as I didn’t know any better, I just wanted to spend time with my Dad. Then as I got a little older, I wanted to actually play, but I wanted my Dad to play too. He’d be player 1…or Mario, and I’d be player 2, Luigi. Sure, Mario is the more recognized brother, and is the star, but I’ve always preferred Luigi. It can’t be because his color scheme is green, because I actually like the color Red more. I don’t know why, maybe because he isn’t as recognized and does just as much work? I don’t know. From the moment I started actually playing Super Mario Bros, all the way through Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, I’ve preferred Luigi to Mario. I have a Luigi Action figure on my desk right now, I also have a Luigi hat (courtesy of the good folks at Gamestop, Thanks Josh and Fonzy!) So, in 2001, when Luigi received his own game, I rejoiced. Sure, it was the action adventure game I was used to with Super Mario Bros, but it was different, and it STARRED Luigi. Can’t ask for much more. I played the game, enjoyed it, and even though it was simple, I was satisfied that the taller mustache’d brother in Green had finally stepped out of Mario’s shadow.

Fast forward to March 24th, 2013, and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon has finally released. The long awaited sequel is the first game in 2013, dubbed “The Year of Luigi”…I am so down with that, I could get greedy and say, “Well, why is it just a year?” But I’m not gonna do that, I am thankful Nintendo has realized that Luigi has his own following of fans and is giving him the spotlight for the time being. As popular and cool as Mario is, he’s had a big catalog of games come out over the years, and most recently had the titles “New Super Mario Bros 2.” and “New Super Mario Bros U”…needless to say I am “New’d” out. The spotlight is on Luigi and it’s his time to shine, for now!

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon picks up after the first game, obviously, with Professor E. Gatts befriending many of the ghosts and studying them in his spare time. Something happens to the Dark Moon, and it is split into many pieces and spread throughout several different areas. Not only this, but all the ghosts that E. Gadds has befriended over the years have gone nuts and turned hostile towards the creepy little elderly man. Professor E panics and calls the only person he knows to call, Luigi, to come save the day. Luigi obviously is not the courageous hero his brother is. He’s nervous, bumbling, clumsy and probably one of the last people you’d hire to do the job, but he’s given the job anyway. Armed with the Poltergust 5000, Luigi is sent to mansions to collect shards of the Dark Moon, as well as investigate the disturbances and who is behind it all.

First off, the game is amazingly charming. It’s one of the most laid back, fun games I have played a long time. It doesn’t take itself serious and is packed with some laughs at Luigi’s or the ghost’s expenses. The ghosts all have personality, ironically, and are funny to catch in the act of doing something goofy and embarrassing. It’s this charm that kept me interested in the game throughout the some 15 hour campaign. Part of the charm comes from the game’s graphics, which totally take advantage of anything and everything the 3DS is packing under the hood. The models look fantastic, as do the environments, and it runs so smoothly that you can’t help but be in awe that you’re playing this on a handheld. Which, by the way I think is the perfect device for this game to be played on. It just fits, it’s fun to take on the go. Graphically, I’d put this in the top echelon of what can be achieved on the 3DS. The 3D effect as well looks phenomenal, and for the first time, I think I played through the game more in 3D than I did in 2D. That’s quite a feat for me because normally I get agitated and turn it off. Not this time, I loved it. Everything about the game visually was impressive to me.

As far as audio goes, there isn’t a lot of dialogue in the game, just some word dropping from Luigi every now and then. You’re given a DS to act as your communication device, and map throughout the adventure, and E.Gadd feels the need to contact you over the silliest things…especially in the first mansion, good lord he is annoying as all hell. The bad part is it’s part of the story/gameplay, so you can’t ignore the call, you freeze in your tracks until you answer the call. When you replay missions however, you have the ability to skip the cutscenes, but you still have to be interrupted by the call, and answer it…blah. The music is catchy, although repetitive as hell. How many different alterations can you make of one theme throughout the game? Around six or seven is the correct answer here, as each mansion features a slightly altered track from what the theme is. I didn’t mind it, because it’s catchy, but before I got really into the game, I had changed my ringtone on my phone to the theme, needless to say I’ll be changing it back soon, because I’ve heard all I need to hear of that song, lol. The personality and charm of the ghosts and boos is impacted by their emotions and the audio really helps bring that out. It’s top of the line, once again, as good as it’s going to be without full on dialogue.

Gameplay wise is a mixed bag for me. The controls are pretty basic for the game, and there’s a lot of stuff to be had and the 3DS button layout makes pretty good use of everything you use. The flashlight, darklight, have their own face button, and there are two face buttons (x and b) reserved for looking up, and looking down. This substitutes for the lack of second circle pad to use, and while it’s functional, I really wish this handheld had been made with a second joystick. Maybe this isn’t the right discussion for this review, but the original 3DS had a peripheral come out for it that added a second circle pad to the system. The US has yet to receive an updated one for the 3DS XL (Go figure, Nintendo doesn’t do shit for US, I’m looking at you Reggie)…but it all boils down to them not making the decision to add a second circle pad to the system’s original design. If they had done that, a lot of games would feature better gameplay.

That’s not to suggest the gameplay here is a problem, it isn’t. It works fine, but I just keep imagining having a handheld with 2 circle pads and even better controls. Keep dreaming I guess, if they had added it to the 3DS XL, it would have split the audience and they’d still be in a mess, so I’ll just say “Damn you” for not originally designing the 3DS with 2 circle pads. /endrant. The Poltergust 5000 vacuum is controlled with the L and R buttons. R uses the vacuum function and L blows air out of the Poltergust. Both functions are very handy throughout the venture, the former especially for capturing ghosts. Capturing ghosts is almost a fun little mini game, where you’ll usually stun a ghost with your flashlight, and then hold “R” to vacuum them up. You have a little bar that fills up depending on how you angle the circle pad to suck them up, and depending on how much you fill the bar up, you’re rewarded with extra money/hearts for reaching said meter level. (Blue,Green,Red are the three levels). The game has a wide variety of ghosts you encounter, from “Greenies” the standard fare, to Creepers…purple ghosts who are a pain in the ass to catch because if more than one are around you, they’ll constantly scare you which makes you lose your grip on a ghost you may be trying to capture. There are several different types you’ll encounter, which helps the game not run into repetitive territory.

Throughout the game you’ll visit five different mansions that have anywhere between three and five different missions. Each level features a hidden Boo that’ll you want to capture for completion sake, as well as several gems. Each mansion has 13 gems total, and collecting all of the gems reveals a bonus mission that has you frantically running around the mansion trying to capture as many ghosts as you possibly can. It’s fun stuff and definitely keeps the game fresh. At the end of each level you’re given a score of one to three stars, depending on your time to beat the mission, how many ghosts you capture, health you lost and money you gained. This is a good way to increase replay value for the game, as there is incentive to top your previous score and see how well you can do in each level. My biggest complaint about the entire game though is the lack of a checkpoint system. If you die, you go back to the very beginning of a mission. Some of the missions can be lengthy, for this title, at least, and you’ll have a lot done, or have found a bunch of secrets, only to die at the very end, and have to do it ALL over again. A halfway checkpoint would have been nice, at the very least. I don’t like that, not one, bit.

One of the stranger additions to Dark Moon, was the addition of multiplayer. I am pleased to say it’s an absolute blast to play. It’s all about ghost hunting in multiplayer entitled “ScareScraper”. You and three random people, or three buddies if you prefer playing w/ people you know and trust, are thrown into a big tower, with 25 floors, and boss battles every fifth floor, with the intent on capturing as many ghosts as you can. The insanity that ensues is so much fun that I found myself spending way more time than I thought I would w/ the multiplayer portion. The difficulty balancing however, is a step back, as it’s tuned for four players, and if you have fewer, you’re in for a real tough challenge. I wish there were different levels of difficulty based on how many people you have, but I am not going to complain, just be warned, if it’s you and one buddy, I hope you’re both excellent ghostbusters. Another annoying thing, to me, is the exclusion of other characters in the multiplayer. You’re given a different color scheme’d Luigi and ushered into the madness, no choice of Mario, Toad, or E. Gadd even…it’s a bit disappointing, but not enough to dock major points here.

Aside from a few complaints, this game was an absolute blast. I was surprised at the challenge of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. It had its moments where I was genuinely frustrated, but it didn’t stop my urge to keep playing. It’s an awesome experience, on all fronts, graphically, gameplay-wise, audio and even multiplayer. If you’re looking for a 10-20 hour game (depending on your collection-bug and multiplayer longevity), Dark Moon is absolutely worth the purchase. If you’re a fan of the Green plumber who rarely gets recognition, then you owe it to yourself (and Luigi) to play this game. You won’t be disappointed. It’s games like this one that really prove that the 3DS is the absolute best handheld to have around, at any time! The Year of Luigi continues…

Treeter’s Score: 9.0