VGA's.....wow

And that wow is not for a good reason folks, overall the VGA's this year was a fail. Between Neil Patrick Harris' game porn titles and the most akward appearance from "online dude who has been playing for 20 hours straight" (if you watched it you know) it was full of random things that had nothing to do with games. A few redeemable moments popped up with the announcement of Mass Effect 3 (HECK YEAH!) and the fact that something other than Black Ops won GOTY (it was Red Dead Redemption btw). The biggest fail comes in the form of the-stereotype-known-as-Frank-Woods winning character of the year over Ezio Auditore, John Marston, and Kratos. To be honest I didn't know his first name was Frank for the whole game. They completely screwed up some awards like that, or left them out completely (Best 360, PS3 and Wii game were nowhere to be found). Mass Effect 2 won Best RPG (announced IN A COMMERCIAL) and Bioware won Best Studio, which I agree with. And while the trailer for Batman Arkhum City was cool, it can't make up for the fact that the VGA's were one big fat bust. Oh and Neil, most of your porn names sucked.
-Smith

Ok so two quick things.........

Ok so one of them is quick and the other is long. The quick one is that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (ooooo scawy twitle) was announced with a short teaser and five screenshots that look freaking insane. The second is the fact that EA Games President came out and send that single player only games are dead. With all due respect to this....man I would like to tell him to Shut THE HECK UP. What is it with people (gamers and reviewers alike) who cannot accept a good single player experience for what it is?! Take one of my favorite games of all time, Fallout 3. That game is insane, with atmosphere of isolation and a destroyed D.C that is the most realistic game world I've ever played in. NO MULTIPLAYER WHATSOEVER. Do I care? Not at all. That game is amazing as a single player only experience that give you more actually fun content than any online multiplayer mode can. Or take the Mass Effect series, one of the most affecting and emotional stories in the games industry. Would it be as effective with a co-op mode, not at all. It is your choices that matter in that game, and there's not a second player that you talk to in the mic that takes you out of that world. Or take ANY horror game (besides RE5). If you are with another person, the scare factor goes out the window. Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, all amazing games this year, and none of them have any kind of multiplayer. Why can't people accept that you can get just as much content (and probably more fun) from a single player only game rather than one that has a shoehorned multiplayer mode? Now don't take this the wrong way, I love some games with multiplayer. Reach, Black Ops, Left 4 Dead, those are games where the multiplayer adds value (and in the case of L4D) essentially makes it worth playing. In some games the multiplayer is totally worth it and adds immense value, but let's not go shoehorning a crappy multiplayer mode into a game that doesn't want it, simply because it "needs it".
-Smith

I'M BACK!! (and scarred for life)

Ok, so turns out the government captured me. They tortured and interrogated me for this last month. Then they decided to take the information about my life that they got and turn it into a video game, and that game turned out to be COD: Black Ops. So yes, I feel it fit to review it. I'll start by saying that i was VERY skeptical of the first "yearly" installment of the now Maddenized COD series. Well, Black Ops both failed and met my expectations in different areas. I'll start with the account of my life, the campaign. You play as me (no I'm not Alex Mason the name was legal purposes) as I am captured and tortured by government officials in order to explain a set of numbers. Of course you (or me, or Alex Mason depending on your view) have no clue what the numbers mean. The missions are flashbacks of my (mason's yours etc. man this is confusing) service across the world, and I definately mean across the world. You go everywhere, from Cuba to Vietnam to Russia and back. The campaign was the area where the game actually exceeded my expectations. With a more personal story that has many references to World at War instead of a "this army kills this army" approach, the campaign feels different from any other in the series. It has awesome set pieces, a ton of variety, and is paced at the speed of a Michael Bay movie on crack after taking three 5-hour-energies and drinking six Monster's. Suffice to say, playing the game actually managed to wear me out. Whether this is a testament to the insane pacing or my own incredible lazieness remains to be seen. All in all the campaign will last about six hours, and has a less than stellar ending. The main problem with the campaign though is the lack of direction at certain parts. Some parts literally require you to die and then and only then will your objective be clearly stated to you. In a shooter, this is more than a minor annoyance. In the end though, it isn't enough to tarnish the overall quality of it. On the graphics side, Black Ops definately impresses. The texturing is perfect, the frame rate is solid, and the number of enemies on screen is sometimes jaw dropping (Vietnam base siege I'm looking at you. The multiplayer however, failed to impress. Essentially, it is Modern Warfare 2 with new killstreaks and guns, and instead of earning guns you must buy them. The new contract system is cool, challenging you to complete a specific task in a match for extra points. The wager matches allow you to bet the points you earn, and while the match types have awesome ideas the fact that you will most likely lose credits will keep you from playing them over and over again. Also on a side note, the return of Nazi Zombies is hilarious and quite awesome except for the fact that it is now so horrendously difficult that it verges on unplayability. Overall, the first "issue" of the now yearly COD franchise is a good game, with a better than expected campaign and the same multiplayer that people all over the world love. I'm starting to wonder though, when will players stop buying a new COD game each and every year?
Final Score: 8.75 out of 10

The West is beautiful.....

I suppose I should start of this review of Enslaved (if the title didn't cue you in) by saying that I was extremely hesitant about buying it. I mean it had gotten good reviews, but Fallout: New Vegas is coming out soon, and while I have the money for both, I still don't want to waste sixty bucks. Well I will say that I believe my leap of faith on buying it payed off, as Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is one of the most....unique games I've played in awhile. Now, when you put in on paper it doesn't sound very unique. Post apocalyptic world, melee combat against robots, platforming segments; I mean, it sounds like most of the non Wii shovelware these days. But the execution of Enslaved is such that it reinvents all of those and more. The game isn't perfect though, and it stumbles along the way. Let's start with the good first, the story, graphics, and platforming. You play as Monkey, one of the few survivors in a world populated by dormant killer robots and remnants of old cities and technology. He's a loner, and it shows through his dialogue. Through a certain set of circumstances involving the destruction of a ruined New York City block he ends up "Enslaved" by a girl named Trip. While he is knocked out, she puts a slave headband on him, and as long as he does what she says she lets him live, mainly getting her home to a commune her father established. It's these circumstances and characters that make the game. Ninja Theory has set the new bar for motion capture in games, and most of the time the emotions Trip and Monkey portray are seen in they're expressions, rather than their words. Andy Serkies (Gollum in Lord of the Rings and who also stared in Ninja Theory's other game, Heavenly Sword) does an amazing job portraying Monkey, showing his reluctance and anger toward his situation in the beginning, which grows into genuine care by the end. The actress of Trip also deserves high marks, and her and Serkis play off one another perfectly. The pair grow as the game progress, and the attachment I felt by the end of the game to them has only been rivaled by Heavy Rain and the Mass Effect's series characters. The game progression is also the second best part about the game, as it is the best paced game I have played since Uncharted 2. If you get this game on a Friday night, I can guarantee you will finish it Saturday morning. It's a game that you won't want to put down, and the ten or so hours it takes to complete means you better set aside a weekend to play it. Enslaved's graphics are also above the line in every way. The lush vegetation and the way nature has reclaimed the world stands in stark contrast to the brown, light brown, and dark brown worlds of most post apocalyptic games (Killzone and Gears I'm looking at you). Now onto the not as good parts. While the platforming and teamwork with Trip portions of the gameplay are immense fun and incredibly satisfying, the straight up combat isn't so much. Monkey's staff is a very effective weapon, and can bash, bludgeon, and shoot bolts of plasma at the numerous mechs that come at you. The combat would've been one of the better parts of the game if it weren't for the fact that the controls are delayed beyond belief. It's a good two seconds between each button press and Monkey's block/swing and it leads to many many cheap deaths. It isn't unbearable, and when you find the much needed health regeneration upgrade in the "Trip Shop" the game's combat becomes much easier and more fun as a result. Monkey's moves can be upgraded, his health increased, and all the other upgrades you would expect are standing at attention. Enslaved's combat can be very exhilarating, as long as the controls are being cooperative. Like I said earlier though, the teamwork and platforming sections are outstanding and show how fun the game can be to play, in addition to being very entertaining to watch. The best combat sections are the boss battles, which show some very good imagination on the part of the developers. All in all, Enslaved is an entertaining Odyssey with an ending that leaves a question that is very difficult to answer. This is a cult hit that should not be missed.
Final Score: 9 out of 10

-Smith

You won't be forgetting this one for a long time.....

Well it has been a while but so begins another "season" of blogging you could say. I don't really know why I go on these long hiatuses, cause I'm sure it annoys the heck out of you, but I'll try to be better about that from now on. Either way I'm here with a Halo:Reach review, and Bungie's swan song to Halo is as good as it looked and more. That's both figuratively and literally, as the game is both impressive graphically and in the absolutely insane amount of options you are given. So I'll be dividing the review into sections so it won't seem like I'm rambling. Well it'll still probably seem like I'm rambling.

Campaign:

The campaign starts with a very atmospheric first level as an elite group of Spartans dubbed Nobel Team (who consist of Carter, Kat, Jorge, Emile, Jun, and Nobel Six, the character you control who is replacing the latest member to fall in battle) investigate reports of power outages by "rebel insurgents". Turns out, it's the Covenant and if you are crying spoiler then you better leave it anonymous or I will personally ban you from this blog. Yes, the Covenant are in a Halo game, NOT A SPOILER. Ok, so the rest of the game has Noble Team doing whatever they can to keep Reach from falling, which (as we all know and therefore isn't a SPOILER) they fail at. The sense that no matter what you do you are not going to win hangs over the entire game, and it is easily the best and most thoughtfully put together campaign in a Halo game to date. While the rest of Noble Team isn't as personified as, say, the characters in Mass Effect, it is a step in the right direction, and even when the tagline is "From the Beginning you Know the End" they still manage to throw curveballs you won't see coming. Overall the campaign is going to last you around eight hours on normal, but believe me when I say that this is the hardest Halo game yet, even without Jackal Snipers. Legendary is hard as heck, and due to the scaling difficulty, bringing your friends along only adds to the challenge. There are some truly standout moments, and I would recommend Reach for the campaign alone, even if you didn't get the stellar multiplayer package.

Multiplayer:

Bungie pulled out all the stops for Reach, and it shows most in the expanded multiplayer offerings. Fighting across eleven maps and ten game modes, the multiplayer package is EXTENSIVE. Taking a cue from COD4 (like every other shooter these days) you can level up and purchase new armor and other extras I won't spoil here in the new Armory. It's surprising how much you'll play just to get a freaking helmet. But beyond that, the multiplayer offering is truly stellar. The excellent matchmaking service is back, and works quicker than ever. Invasion is as awesome as it was in the beta, and a few things have changed since then. Grenades have changed from being small rolling balls of death in the beta to being slightly less effective in the finished game. However, I found myself using them more than I had in Halo 3. Melee attacks are weaker than ever also (they only drain an opponent's shields) but the awesomely gratifying assassination moves make up for it slightly. The great thing I've always loved about Halo multiplayer is how balanced it is, and even with the new power weapons like the Plasma Caster (I refuse to call it the Plasma Launcher and Focus Rifle it retains that level of balance where something is never strong enough to where something else can't beat it. The only negative thing I would say about the multiplayer is the maps themselves. While most are quite good, none of them are really knockouts, and none rival the amazing map selection in Halo 3. Overall, the multiplayer is addictive, balanced, and fun as heck, and the new modes like Headhunter and Invasion don't hurt either.

Forge:

This is the part of Halo: Reach that truly stunned me. The simple act that objects can now float opens untold possibilities. Me and my friend built a city in two hours that would've taken us two years in Halo 3, that is if it would've been even possible in Halo 3 to begin with. Forge World itself is huge, with many different areas to create actual maps to play on or just fun structures to share with your friends. I saw a guy who built the Death Star, THE FREAKIN DEATH STAR. Forge is truly endless, and if you've got a mind for creativity then you're gonna have your hands full for a long long time.

Firefight:

Yes Firefight is back, and as Cliff Bleszinsky would put it, it's bigger, better, and more badass than ever. You can now essentially Forge on Firefight, and you can create different game modes (all grunts all the time is included don't worry) with innumerable permutations. You can set what weapon you spawn with, the amount of health you have, the enemies you want to fight, it's just truly stunning what Bungie has let you do this time around. Also, having Firefight work toward your Multiplayer progress as well doesn't hurt either. The Firefight map selection is also very good, possibly better than the Multiplayer ones, with Courtyard and Corvette the true standouts.

In closing, Halo: Reach is Bungie's magnum opus, and they've let you have everything you wanted and more with this final "true" Halo game. The story, the graphics, the sound, the multiplayer, and everything else is equally fantastic, and it's got more content on the disc than nearly any game on the market. If you want a game that satisfies and keeps you coming back for more, Halo: Reach is a necessary buy
Final Score: 9.75 out of 10

-Smith

Lets Nukem all on the Border

And with that incredibly unpolitically correct title begins the newest article on the return of Duke Nukem from the guys who brought us BORDERlands (and no, nukes are not ok children). But yes folks after 14 years Duke Nukem Forever the second most ironically named game in history has a set in stone release date. Last year when 3D Realms (the original developer) closed their doors most people assumed Duke had finally been nuked for good. But no! Turns out Gearbox software, the brilliant studio behind Borderlands, took over the game and it is set to release either late this year or early next! Now even if this game is terrible, even if it is wretched, foul, and even if it is the most offensive and slanderous name to the entire video game industry it will be one of the best selling titles ever! And do you know why? Cause the game has been in development for fourteen FRICKIN YEARS! It's the sequel to a beloved PC classic and with one of the most storied and legendary development cycles in history you can be sure most gamers will go buy it simply for owning a piece of gaming history. Plus, when a game's health bar is labeled "Ego" you know its got style.

-Smith

What else is there to do on Monday Night?

Hello world. It has definately been a while hasn't it? Well either way I'm finally back with a review for one of Microsoft's big arcade games, Monday Night Combat. The game takes heavy influence from Team Fortress 2, in that all the characters are very cartoony, based on stereotypes, and that it has a very well balanced and creative class system. The main mode of the game is called Blitz, where you and up to 3 other friends defend a giant "Moneyball" (how awesome would it be to have one of those?) from waves of robots, setting up four different kinds of turrets to help you along the way. There are four difficulty settings, but there isn't a good balance with them though, as Exhibition (10 rounds minimal resistance) is very easy while Season (20 rounds, medium difficulty), which is the next up in the difficulty chart, will kick you back to your momma until you've got a solid team working with you. But once you do, the game is immensely addicting and fun to play. Assault, Gunner, Tank, Support, Sniper and Assassin round out the classes, and they all benefit the team in unique ways, as each class has three skills unique to them. These skills can be upgraded as the Assault is a generic soldier, who has a particularly effective Dash move. The Sniper is what you would expect with a nice melee move where he turns his gun into a bomb, Gunner is a lumbering brute, Tank is built to defend with short range attacks, Assassin can cloak and has the coolest grapple move in the game, and Support can heal and also hack and deploy a turret of their own. Oh and he also has a wickedly cheesy Italian accent, so I went with him most of the time. Also, a custom class system can be unlocked, and it lets you choose three upgrades to the main class archetypes. It works well, and adds a small bit of the now standard Modern Warfare style leveling system. There is one other mode, but I didn't find it near as fun. It's called Crossfire, and two teams fight to destroy each others Moneyball with support from robots of their own. It works o.k, but the matches seemed much less organized and it wasn't as satisfying as the well put together tower defense concept behind Blitz. As I said before, the game's art style is ripped straight from Team Fortress 2, and it looks good most of the time, with cartoony visuals that stand out from most shooters. Also the robot designs are immensely generic, but there are a good variety for you to fend off. Monday Night Combat also has a mascot named Bullseye, who can take a ridiculous amount of bullets but gives out money and bacon. Yeah bacon, it essentially is a Superman button that upgrades everything. Wish my bacon could do that, cause then I could take on Superman and Captain Marvel without breaking a sweat. There is also Juice, which is essentially the same thing except you get it from killing enemies, but the trade off is that it is limited in time and power. Overall, Monday Night Combat is a satisfying buy, and you'll get a lot of value and fun out of your Monday Night sessions.
Final Score: 8.5 out of 10

-Smith

The most epic of epic adventures in the epic history of epic epicness (no not a Scott Pilgrim review)

Ok guys, so I just found out about one of the most awesome things ever in the history of video games. I can't believe I had never heard of this before, I mean its awesome. So as with any epic adventure it starts a long long time ago.....in 1982. Back then the Atari 2600 was the thing to own, it was the premiere gaming console on the market, so with Atari essentially owning the video game market in homes, they decided to hold a contest. But not just any contest, the greatest contest in the history of gaming. They decided to release a series of four games, titled Swordquest, and each game would be based around one of the four elements. The first was Earthworld, the second Fireworld, the third Waterworld, and the fourth was supposed to be Airworld. The point of each game was to find clues, and you found the clues by collecting and dropping numbers in certain rooms that were molded after mythological systems (the Zodiac signs, the Tree of Life, and the Chakra system). Each game came packaged with a comic book which was necessary to finding all the clues. Now here is where the contest part comes. The first 50 people to get all of the clues right for each game would be invited to Atari headquarters, where they would be challenged to an all new game. The first person to solve that would win a prize. These prizes are insane. The winner of Earthworld (who ended up being a guy named Steve Bell), won the "Talisman of Penultimate Truth". Just rolls off the tongue huh? anyway the Talisman was made of 18K solid gold and had 12 diamonds and every single one of the twelve birthstones of the Zodiac embedded in the front, and had a freaking sword made of white gold on the front. Holy cow! Like seriously, when have video games ever garnered a prize like that?! But that's only the first one. The winner of Fireworld (who ended up being a guy named Michael Rideout) won a "Chalice of Light". It was a huge goblet made of gold and platinum and was covered in citrines, diamonds, green jade, pearls, rubies, and sapphires. Oh and both of these prizes were valued at $25,000. Now after this it all went downhill. Now if you noticed this contest started in 1982, and we all know what happened in 1983, the entire video game industry crashed. Thank E.T for that one. Anyway Waterworld was made but the contest for that game never happened. The winner was supposed to receive a "Crown of Life" which was made of gold and studded with diamonds, aquamarines, green tourmalines (?!?), rubies and sapphires. Airworld was never even made but the prize exists. The prize was a "Philosopher's Stone", which was a huge ball of white jade in a case made of 18K gold with diamonds, emeralds, citrines, and rubies embedded in it. But it doesn't end there. The contest was supposed to have a final round, in which the winners of the previous four games would compete for a "Sword of Ultimate Sorcery", which was an actual sword with a 18K gold handle encrusted with jewels and a pure silver blade. The sword was valued for $50,000 dollars. Like is this contest awesome or what?! However, what became of the last three prizes that were never given out? They exist, they were on display at the contests that actually happened and we have pictures of them. But they were never given out, so who has them? Is that how Atari survived all these years without making any good games? Do they have a vault of secret jewel encrusted mythological swords and objects? Well the accepted theory is that the man who bought Atari in 1984, Jack Tramiel, has all both the crown, stone, and sword, and some people even say they've seen the sword in his living room. Either way, the fate of the prizes remains unknown, and the greatest treasure in video game history is lost for eternity.......

-Smith

Design

Well as you can see we at DGRO have gotten a new design. It was the collective decision of the staff (me) to change the design to honor the best movie ever made. Ever. It also fits with me profile picture, profile name, and everything else so it's probably gonna stay with that back ground. Oh and I'm gonna start working on the new bio soon (trust me it will be better than the confusing extremely long first one), any suggestions on the character? Leave your comments on the character and design below.

-Smith

THE Double Standard

Hello people, this article is about the thing that makes me angry. THE thing. It makes me angrier than most things, and it is the double standard between games and other forms of media. Let's face it, games are still viewed as for kids by most of the world. Even though the average gamer is an 18-35 year old male, the mainstream media ignores this; unable to believe games are more complex than Pac-Man nowadays. Because of this, anytime a game does anything out of the norm and anything seen as "adult", the media is completely shellshocked, jumping all over the games industry and ripping to shreds the hard working people who create games. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the INFAMOUS Fox News segment on the coverage of the incredible RPG Mass Effect's sex scene. You can see this scene on Youtube (just type in "Mass Effect sex scene"). You should watch the scene to know what I'm talking about, trust me, it isn't anything bad or disgusting, and there's no frontal nudity at all, and only about a two second camera shot of a woman's back if you haven't seen it. I've played the game and seen the scene. It's the result of an over thirty hour game, during which you have the choice of falling in love with one of two characters on your crew. Trust me, this isn't a stupid insulting one night stand. And if you aren't the type for commitment, you can choose to not pursue the romances and never even have to see the scene at all. Now the scene would easily be allowed in a PG-13 movie. According to the MPAA guidelines, nothing in this scene would push it to an R rating. Yet naturally, because it's a video game, the media goes bananas. Fox News ran a segment on it with the caption of "seXbox?" which is just insulting. The caption stated the game showed full frontal digital nudity, which is a complete and utter lie. Both Geoff Keighley (host of Gametrailers T.V) and Cooper Lawrence, a psychology expert that no one has ever heard of, were brought on to discuss the scene. You can find this segment on Youtube (just type in "Mass Effect Fox News), and you should watch it before reading on because it would take too long to describe the whole thing. After watching it, you see what makes me so mad, especially if you've played the game. Cooper Lawrence admits to not even playing the game, yet goes on to say it is about a man deciding about how many women he wants to be with. It's just insulting, and none of what she said was true at all. I will say Geoff Keighley's voice annoys the heck out of me, and this segment is the only reason I have any respect for him. When will the mainstream media stop babying us and holding us to the strictest of standards, when most movies are allowed to do anything they want without any reaction, just look at Saw for pete's sake! Mass Effect got an M rating, and you cannot buy M games without I.D, or if you don't have one without parental consent. Same with R movies, yet of course, games get the short end of the stick. It's time for the media to recognize games as entertainment for all ages, and time for them to stop treating the industry like a seven year old kid that they can punish when they do something "bad".

-Smith

Limbo (two meanings to that)

Hi guys, I'm back! It's been like a month since I've posted because I have been busy with camps and vacations, but Smith is back from Limbo, with a review of (you guessed it) Limbo! Limbo is a puzzle platformer at its core, behind all the fancy graphics and stuff is a creative, albeit difficult game. Speaking of the graphics, the game is simply stunning. The simple monotone art direction and shades of gray convey the games message and creepy tone perfectly. In fact, the graphics tell most of the story. The only "story" you get is in the description of the game when you download it from XBLA. It mentions a boy looking for his sister in Limbo. Suffice to say, the "story" only shows itself in the last minute of the game. But in this game the atmosphere begs you to write your own story. What is this place? What are the other beings here? Many questions are asked, all are left to your own imagination to figure out. Now at the beginning I said this was a difficult game, and boy it is. The puzzles are devilish, requiring a lot of ingenuity on your part, considering the game provides literally no direction whatsoever. Limbo is a harsh place, and you will die, a lot. The difficulty ends up padding out the game length also, as if this game were a breeze it could probably be completed in less than an hour. Thankfully, due to all the time you spend thinking on how to solve the puzzles, it evens out to a healthy six. Limbo is an interesting game, one that demands the player to think on all levels. The story, the gameplay, the world, it's all left to the player to figure out. It feels refreshing, nothing is to overbearing, everything is at a relaxed pace that complements the way the game is meant to be played. At fifteen bucks, this difficult road through Limbo is well worth the price of admission.

Final Score: 8.5/10
-Smith

Like A Bawse (Big Boss Bio, Appears in Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid 4)

Ok guys, I hunted, I searched, and I found. All the information I could dig up on Big Boss is going to be in the post, presented in a kind of fictional biography style. Ok here we go.

Big Boss was born in 1935, with his real name known only to be Jack. his military career started in the Korean War, with him joining as a teenager into the highly trained Green Berets. During his training, the legendary WWII hero the Boss, who led the highly successful COBRA unit in the invasion at Normandy, saw how much potential he had, and he was subsequently taken under her wing to become her apprentice. During his tenure with the Boss, she taught him everything she knew about about warfare and espionage. Her and Jack even developed a form of martial arts, dubbed CQC, which was used by his "son" Solid Snake in all Metal Gear Solid titles. Jack also took part in the testing of the first airborne explosions of hydrogen bombs, but developed no adverse side effects to the advanced radiation. After nearly ten years of training and friendship with the Boss, she disappeared from his life in 1959, with no explanation or warning. Jack then went on to run special covert ops in Vietnam, with a partner named Python, who was eventually shot and presumed to be killed. The next mission Jack took part in would be the hardest of his life. In 1964 Jack and the experimental FOX unit of the CIA (consisting of Major Zero, Para-Medic and Mr. Sigint) were assigned to rescue Nikolai Sokolov, a leading Russian weapons expert who had defected to the United States, but had been re-captured by the Russians in order to complete the Shagohod, an experimental tank that could launch nuclear missiles from its back. It was during this mission that Jack was reunited with the Boss, her explanation for leaving being that she "was on a mission". Jack was assigned the codename Naked Snake for the mission, and he would be known by that for a good portion of his missions. He was able to get Sokolov out, but was stopped by the Boss at the last minute, who claimed she had defected to the Soviets. The Boss easily took out Jack, and her and Colonel Volgin (an electrically charged Russian rebel) took back Sokolov and fired a nuke at Sokolov's base, causing an international incident. The Russian president was furious, and he ordered that Volgin and the Boss be killed by the Americans in order to prove the country's innocence. He also wanted the Shagohod destroyed, as it was now in possession of Volgin and his rebels. Jack was sent on Operation Snake Eater, in which he was supposed to kill the Boss, Volgin, and destroy the Shagohod. Along the way he was supposed to meet up with ADAM and EVA, agents loyal to Russia who were moles inside Volgin's rebel faction. However, only EVA showed up and she became Jack's confidant and eventual lover. Snake was able to accomplish his mission (even after having his eye shot out), including killing the Boss. However, after a night with EVA, she left leaving a tape that explained the Boss had not defected, and had been on an undercover mission to retrieve the Philosophers Legacy, a huge sum of money pooled by China, the U.S and Russia during WWII. She apparently accomplished this, and gave it to EVA to give to Snake. However, EVA was working for China, and took the Legacy for her country, expressing that she had truly loved Jack before leaving. Turns out, that Legacy was fake, and that the real ADAM (Major Ocelot, who is later revealed to be the Boss' son) had accquired the legacy and had given it to the U.S. Jack was given the title of Big Boss for completing the mission but the mission left Jack disillusioned and he soon left the military. In 1970 he was dragged back in when his former FOX unit went rogue and attacked a Soviet Base on the San Heironymo Peninsula of South America. FOX captured Jack and tortured him until him and a Green Beret named Roy Campbell escaped and gathered up his former unit (who had not gone rogue, other members had however). Together they were able to destroy the rogue FOX unit and take out their weapon dubbed Metal Gear, a more advanced version of the Shagohod. The rogue unit's leader, Gene, had wanted to establish an Army Heaven nation, and the attack was going to be the first step in that. Jack was given a new unit FOXHOUND in honor of his role in stopping the attack. He was then recruited by his former officer Major Zero and Colonel Ocelot into joining "the Patriots" a U.N of sorts that would control the entire world from behind the scenes. EVA was also recruited into the Patriots, where her and Jack reconciled. However, Zero was going crazy with power, and soon started the Les Enfants Terribles project, which cloned Jack three times so that Zero would never truly "lose" Jack. The sons were named Liquid Snake, Solid Snake, and Solidus Snake. Jack found out and soon left the Patriots in order to form his own mercenary company. His company was hired to repel the CIA out of Costa Rica, however the whole mission was just a ruse to have Jack join the Patriots again by threatening to launch a nuke at the east coast if he did not come back, as the nuke would be blamed on him. Jack stopped the nuke but was exiled. During this time he created Outer Heaven (his own mercenary country) and was able to return to the United States to take command of FOXHOUND once again, with his own son Solid unaware his father was leading him. However FOXHOUND was ordered to destroy Outer Heaven and Jack was forced to delay the mission but ultimately Outer Heaven was destroyed with the help of his son Solid. Jack, once again exiled by the Patriots he helped found, helped the country of Zanzibar gain its independence and built a Metal Gear there to ensure they wouldn't be attacked. Once again, his son Solid Snake infiltrated Zanzibar and destroyed Metal Gear, and in a final battle Snake burned Jack alive with a makeshift flamethrower, but not before finding out that Jack was his father. Jack's body was recovered by the Patriots and was found to be still alive. He was then restored by nanomachines and kept in a cryogenic state by the now insane Zero. At the end of Metal Gear Solid 4 it is revealed that Liquid Snake (Jack's son) had needed his body in order to overthrow the Patriots, which were now comprised of AI's, and the password to controlling them was Jack's genetic sequence. However Liquid failed and was killed by Solid Snake, the body Liquid had had was Solidus' body, not Jack's. Solid then went to the Boss' "grave" where he was going to commit suicide due to the virus inside him that would soon make him a walking weapon. Jack showed up though, restored by the nanomachines. Jack explained the Patriots to Solid, and reconciled with his only surviving son/clone before pulling the plug on Zero's life support, who was in a wheelchair next to him. Jack then succumbed to the virus carried by Snake (as he had not adapted) while saluting the Boss' grave, his last words being "This is good...isn't it?"

Bio pic! (just with out the pic and a lot of the bio)

Ok so I was thinking. And thinking. And thinking. I was Infinitely Undiscovering myself (shout out to a terrible game and IW!). Anyway I thought, "Hey I like story! Characters are in stories! How about video game bio pics?!". That's right as of this post I am going to start working on character bio's for video game characters. Now I could never do this without you guys so I'm gonna let you choose who the first bio pic character will be. There'll be a poll on the side of this page. Find it? Good. Now vote on which of those four characters you would like to see a bio on. Which ever character wins the poll will have the most extensive bio I can find made of them on this site. These will take some time to make. Especially on characters that span series. But I think it'll be something that separates DGRO from other sites. At least I hope so. So vote on that poll! (I have a feeling a certain MANLY MAN will be winning...)

-Smith

Nostalgia...

Well the thing that brought this one up is that I have recently been playing through the first Mass Effect (thanks for the suggestion Jorge) and I was surprised at how well it holds up. I mean sure it isn't a super old game or anything, being released in 2007 and all, but the industry evolves fast, and I was surprised that I might actually like it more this time. Well that brought up the question of how powerful nostalgia really is. I mean, how many games that you absolutely love are really old? Do you think they would be anywhere near as fun if you played them today? I think of Kingdom Hearts (which is eight on my top ten games list) as an example of something that probably wouldn't hold up as well as I would like it too. I loved that game when I played it around four or five years ago, but would I enjoy it as much today? The combat was very simple but fun, and the magic system was great but would it hold up in the day of high res graphics and incredible physics technology? Or would the fun and nostalgia of the game overshadow all of that? It's a hard question to answer. I will say that I have proof that sometimes old games hold up without the nostalgia factor though, as I played through MGS3: Snake Eater last week (having never played it before) and boy was that game good; it is easily my favorite Metal Gear game (I'm not the biggest fan of number four). So go back and play one of your favorite games, one of those games you remember as being the thing that got you into gaming. Everyone has that game, and for me it was Goldeneye. See if it holds up, and if it doesn't...well then remember the memories instead.

-Smith

Sony

Well Sony actually did impress me. The beginning of their press conference started with Killzone 3, which I gotta say looked awesome...even though it looked exactly like Killzone 2. Then they started talking, and talking, and talking, these guys easily talked the most of any of the big three. But then, Kevin Butler came out, and that was the turning point. After delivering a rousing speech on gaming itself, the conference picked up, with Dead Space 2 and Medal of Honor getting shown, both of which have exclusive content for the PS3 version. They showed off Infamous 2 (dang I do not like that new design for Cole) LBP2, and unveiled Twisted Metal, which looked like a blast to play. They also, like I predicted, pushed Move to the fullest, and showed off the incredibly generic looking Sorcery. However, Socom 4 looked pretty good, but the Tiger Woods stuff just looked like the Wii version. As with Kinect, I love the technology behind these, but can they grasp it like Nintendo has and move it past being an HD Wii? I don't know, but I hope they can. They also pushed 3D to no end, with the words 3D being said at least a hundred times, and truth be told it did get annoying with them acting like they owned 3D, when both the 360 and 3DS can push 3D too. One of the biggest disappointments for me at least was that they showed nothing of The Last Guardian, it wasn't at the show at all. After playing Shadow of the Colossus, I really want to see Team Ico's next project. Overall, Sony had an average showing, and the exclusive content from EA and the announcement that Portal 2 was coming to the Ps3 didn't hurt.
Final Score=B+

-Smith

Nintendo (WOW!)

My gosh, what a shocker. That press conference was absolutely incredible. It was better than Nintendo's past three conference combined. They showed soooo many awesome games. They also announced so many amazing looking games. Donkey Kong Country Returns, a Goldeneye 007 reboot (Yes the 7 year old kid in me just lit up), Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Metroid Other M, Kid Icarus for the 3DS. Speaking of the 3DS, I truly expected it to be some gimmicky machine with terrible 3D effects and stupid glasses. Turns out, NO GLASSES! I have no idea how they did it, but plenty of high profile developers attested that it worked. Hideo Kojima, Capcom with Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, and plenty of other developers have announced that they are developing games for the 3DS. It was absolutely ridiculous the amount of games they showed, and I haven't even talked about the biggest of them all, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. There were some control issues on stage, but all the gameplay they showed looked cool, and the one-to-one sword control, and nunchuck as shield are all great ideas. Overall Nintendo blew me away with everything they showed, and the 3DS seems to be one of the most innovative products to come out in awhile
Final Score=A+

-Smith

Microsoft

Well Microsoft's press conference just wrapped up, and I'm am completely...indifferent. Nothing shown shocked or wowed me in any way. I mean it just listed no response from me. The coolest thing they showed was the Gears 3 demo, and they also unveiled a new mode, called Beast, but gave no details on the mode at all. The Reach demo was cool but short, Metal Gear Rising had a cool engine, and we got a new Fable 3 trailer, but in the end, none of it wowed me. After (what seemed to me) rushing through their game line up and announcing an exclusive game coming from Crytek, they moved on to all their Kinect stuff. I love the technology and potential that that little camera has, and all the dashboard and interface stuff they showed was all really cool, but the games just look...meh. It just looked like family games. The Star Wars thing was cool, and the new Forza stuff really impressed me, but besides that the rest just looked like it was trying to appease the casual market. That is their goal I guess though, they want Xbox to be the biggest gaming brand in the world. At the end though, they brought out the 360 slim, and that is what saved them. They finally included Wi-fi support, it has a 250 gb hardrive, and is going to be completely Kinect compatible. It also looks a good bit cooler too. In the end Microsoft pushed Natal to no end, and while that conference started out cool with all their exclusive games, the end result was a conference about Kinect. I have no doubt that Sony is going to do the same thing with Move, and like I said I like the technology behind both of them, but I'm not a fan of how they are using it.
Final Grade=C+

-Smith

Kinect....what?

So it's official. Microsoft has finally named there fancy little camera, and they have named it Kinect. Pronounced connect. Personally, I think Natal sounds cooler, but that is just me. I also like Arc better than move and Revolution better than Wii so I guess companies just hate me. Among the games announced for Natal...I mean Kinect, only two have me interested because they don't sound like crappy Wii-style shovelware. Joyride, which is that racing game that was shown last year, and the announcement that both Disney and Star Wars properties have announced that they will be developing heavily for Natal...Kinect gosh that will take forever to get used too! Well, tell me what you think in the comments below, and be sure to watch for all the coming E3 coverage.

-Smith

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

This post probably should've gone up before E3, but I forgot after watching GTTV. Well, anyway once again the famed movie critic Roger Ebert once again decided to trash the gaming industry by saying that games are not, and never will, be art. In this month's issue of Gameinformer, Ken Levine (creator of Bioshock) sounded off on this, and if you haven't read what he wrote you need too, it is a great defense of the gaming industry. As for if games can be art, I completely disagree with Ebert, games can be art. In my opinion art is something in which the creator pours all of his effort, time, and heart into something that turns out to be great. Games are completely in. Some games are art in their graphics and style, such as Shadow of the Colossus. Some are art in their stories, such as Metal Gear Solid and Mass Effect. Others are art in their different approaches to gameplay and some change the way you see something. I mean, seriously Mr. Ebert, if you deny that a story as great as Metal Gear's or Mass Effect's isn't art, then I can't imagine that anything else in your view is art. Art isn't just paint on a canvas or words on a page. Art is the work of a talented creator. Games certainly fall into this category, and give up Mr. Ebert, games aren't just something kids play anymore. They are being recognized as art and as a serious medium. We have evolved, and we have shown that we are to be taken seriously. So drop your argument Mr. Ebert. We're tired of it.

-Smith

E3 Blowout

Ok guys, the biggest week in gaming is upon us now. E3 starts Monday with the Microsoft press conference and I gotta say I think it's gonna be a great show this year. At this (very late) time I'm watching the E3 blowout episode of GTTV, and man are there some good games we've got lined up. Dead Space 2, Gears of War 3, Halo Reach, LBP 2, Infamous 2, Killzone 3, Fable 3, Force Unleashed 2, Devil's Third. KOTOR online and even more unannounced games. If I'm forgetting anything (which I'm sure I am) please tell me in the comments below. I thought I'd let you know that after each press conference (Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony) that I'll be providing a recap of what was showed and what I thought was awesome and not so awesome. Before you read those let me warn you I am not the biggest fan of motion controls haha. Maybe it's because I am a lazy bum, but anyway, I'm gonna be working hard to keep everyone updated. Now, as for the predictions. Let's face it, Nintendo has the most to win or lose this year. With Sony's Sonymote and Nunchu....I mean sub controller they can essentially say "Hey Nintendo fans, upgrade to HD!". Fits in with their whole, it only does everything slogan. Now that isn't a bad thing at all, Nintendo is too lazy to announce a Wii HD and Sony was smart and essentially beat them to the punch. Nintendo neeeeds a reason for their fans to keep playing their Wii. Even if they do show the new Zelda game, it can't support them forever. They need to show something mindblowing that will show Microsoft and Sony that they deserve to lead in sales and that they can't be beat when it comes to motion control. However, if they do as crappy a job this year as they did last year then that doesn't bode well for them. Also as a closing note, I have to point out my dark horse game for this E3, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. Just go look up Ign's article on this liscensed game that actually looks like an amazing action/RPG. Alright guys, sound off in the comments, and be sure to watch E3!

-Smith

The "Final" Fantasy? Yeah, right.

Most gamers believe that Duke Nukem: Forever is the most ironically named game ever. Considering the game was announced in 1996 and still hasn't come out, I agree it is very ironic. However, I think that the most ironically named is ever single Final Fantasy game that wasn't the first. I mean seriously, it is called FINAL fantasy, yet we have had thirteen (soon to be fourteen) games! I mean, isn't there a point where a franchise needs to quit? Not necessarily die, but quit, take a break, stop making games, etc. I mean we are getting to the point where there is no new I.P. COD is moving on too its seventh game, and Activision (evil jerks) have announced they want a new COD game every year. Halo is about to be on its fifth game, Metal Gear Solid is on five, and I don't even need to mention sports games. I mean heck, look at Nintendo! They survive off of not coming up with new I.P! They recycle Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Star Fox (although that franchise hasn't seen a release in a long time), and other franchises on a rotating schedule to survive. Now I don't begrudge Nintendo for this, as its games are usually phenomenal, but seriously when was the last time Nintendo game up with an original I.P? Pikmin or something? Now if a franchise can innovate with still retaining the core of itself with each new release than this isn't a problem, but I mean all thirteen final fantasy games (except eleven and twelve) have followed the same blueprint, with angst filled emoish characters who must save their world by engaging in turn based combat. I mean, I realize franchises are necessary for most companies, they make money off of established things that they know will sell. But it doesn't hurt to take a risk once and awhile. There becomes a point where the games industry will literally stagnate because of this. New ideas keep an industry evolving, and even if it isn't a new I.P, franchises can, like I said before, change things up a little bit every game while still preserving its core, instead of hitting that dreaded 1.5 that keeps us from moving forward.

-Smith

Game to movie: The cursed adaptation

Well, considering that Prince of Persia, the highest budgeted game-to-movie adaptation ever, just came out I figured it's a good time to talk about why game to movie adaptations are usually so freaking terrible. Now I have seen Prince of Persia, and in my opinion, it isn't half bad. I got exactly what I expected out of it, which was a very popcorny summer action flick, and not a bad one either. They kept in elements from the game, like the time mechanic and the free running, which was nice. I think in essence that is where most of these adaptations go bad. They either stick incredibly close to the game (Resident Evil) or go completely away from it (Doom). Both of these are usually bad ways to go. As when you stick incredibly close to the game, you get long segments of no story that was just gameplay in the game, and going really far away alienates fans and is usually bad for the story. I think Prince of Persia finally got it right. It kept some elements from the games, yet took its own path with its story. Sadly, it seems it will be the biggest flop in the genre, as its 200 Million dollar budget is a lot to make up. Granted, these movies hardly ever get that much, but they also don't have that big of budgets either. Currently, one of the Tomb Raider movies holds the record for highest grossing video game movie, and it isn't very high. Before I close this post though, I have to touch on something, or rather, someone. The man that is singularly responsible for the bad reputation that most video game movies get, UWE BOLL. Seriously, this man directed Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead, and Bloodrayne, all beloved franchises (well maybe besides Alone in the Dark). None of them have over ten percent approval on rotten tomatoes, in fact Bloodrayne is the highest with an 8% approval rating. It is said that he makes a fortune if his movies sucked, so if that was the idea than mission freaking accomplished. In the end though, video game movies need that one thing, that one masterpiece of a movie, to pull them out of the hole they are in now. A hole dug, by one Mr. Uwe Boll.

-Smith

My System

Well, I have put up three reviews so far so I figured all my readers were wondering how I come to my final score. If you weren't then I'll tell you anyway so you will never have to. The way I see it, there are three main parts to 90% of games. Gameplay, story, and graphics/presentation. The presentation includes things like music, menus, how many loading screens there are, etc. The other three speak for themselves. The thing I place the most emphasis on in my reviews is gameplay. Gameplay is what makes a game a game, and separates games from other forms of entertainment. This hobby at its core is interactive entertainment after all. Right below gameplay for me is story. The story is (usually) the thing that keeps you playing, puts reason behind the gameplay. Unless the game is just designed around being fun, in which case a bad story won't overshadow how fun the gameplay is. I think all Mario games fall into the "fun and simple" category. Last and (in my opinion) least is the graphics/presentation. Now while graphics do add to the initial shock of how good a game is, you eventually get used to them, and even if a game looked like Halo 1 but played like Halo 3, I would play it over the other way around. Now presentation is important, as technical issues can really ruin a game, sloppy frame rate, screen tearing, and bad aliasing can really ruin your enjoyment of a game. Well, that's my system, give me yours in the comments below.

-Smith

Take a claustrophobic trip through the tunnels

Let's get this out of the way first, yes I realized this was released in March, but I haven't had a chance to play it until now. Either way, I rented and after beating it decided I might as well write a review of it. Now here's is the review part. Metro 2033 is an interesting game. The atmosphere, story, graphics, and shooting are all uniformly great, but the game is bogged down by incredible difficulty and terrible AI. As for the good, the atmosphere and world are fantastic. The game is based on a book of the same name, written by Dmitri long-Russian-name. The game takes place in the year 2033, in a reality in which only 40,000 people escaped nuclear holocaust by retreating to the Metro tunnels underneath Moscow. You play Artyom, who leaves his home station to get help from the "capital station" Polis, in order to fight an enemy called the Dark Ones, which have been driving people insane. The game has excellent pacing, and takes you from fighting mutated beasts, to psychological hallucinations, to the remnants of Nazi's and Communist fighting it out. Two out of those three scenarios are great, with the monsters truly scaring you and testing you, and the hallucinations showing who the Dark Ones truly are. Whenever you're fighting humans however, the game nosedives. The AI is either broken or incredibly smart, and it makes fighting other humans a frustrating and difficult ordeal. However, using stealth is a usually more viable option, reducing the difficulty of the human on human fights. Speaking of difficulty, the game is incredibly hard, and the fight against exploding mucus monsters was one that I must have retried over ten times. Ammo consumption also adds to the difficulty. There are two types of ammo, "dirty" ammo, which was made in the tunnels, or pre-war rounds, which deal more damage but also serve as your currency. When you run out of the much more plentiful dirty ammo, you are forced to literally shoot money at them, making it harder to buy more dirty ammo at the next station. However, the ammo system also adds to the atmosphere, and whenever you catch yourself counting the rounds you have, you'll smile at how the game sucks you in to its world. Other interesting ways that the game portrays its setting is in the use of gas masks. You will go above ground quite a bit in the game, and gas masks with extra filters are needed to stop you from suffocating on the contaminated air. You're gas mask can crack and even break if you take too much damage, making above ground fights even more difficult. However, this (and many other aspects of the game) is very realistic, so if that's your thing jump in. Even with some of the pneumatic weapons, which require regular pumping to keep up the air pressure, show the attention to detail. Metro 2033 is a brisk ride, which will take 10-12 hours to beat, and with no multiplayer or co-op, or any type of incentive to play it again besides an alternate ending, wait for the $40 dollar price tag before picking this one up. Even with all these problems though, the atmosphere, story, solid shooting, and some intriguing design decisions make Metro 2033 an experimental game that you owe to yourself to play.
Final score 8.75 out of 10

-Smith

Is Survival Horror Dead?

Yes, you read that right, is the Survival Horror genre dead? I've wondered that ever since Resident Evil 5, which don't get me wrong, was an incredible game. However, the main problem I had with it was, it was not scary in the slightest. The franchise that began the franchise of horror, was now no longer a horror game. Next came Silent Hill: Shattered Memories that, while providing some scares during chase sequences, was largely an adventure game. The two franchises that began the genre are now moving away from what they did so well back in the day. I think it reflects how that genre is moving at large. When was the last game that truly truly scared you, and did not offer just the shock or thrill of being overwhelmed by enemies. When was the last game that used creepy little girls, dogs jumping through windows, and ambient music to create an experience that truly scared you. I mean even Alan Wake, which was one of the few games lately that creeps me out, was more a thriller than a horror game. Heck the box says "A psychological action thriller". The last game that was truly horror for me was the original Dead Space, which truly scared me and even though I dreaded every new corner, I never wanted to stop playing. It used atmosphere, music, and horrifying enemies to truly provide a terrifying experience. Even this franchise is supposed to have "Modern Warfare levels of action" in its second installment, according to the project director himself. So where has the horror game gone? More importantly, will we ever find it again?

-Smith

Remedy's Thriller Masterpiece Delivers One Heck Of a Ride

When I first sat down to play Alan Wake I didn't really know what to expect. Was I going to be playing an action game with horror elements, or a plot heavy thriller filled with scares? The game falls somewhere between the two, but is exhilarating nonetheless. The brilliance of Alan Wake is in its pacing and the way it presents its expertly crafted story to you. The game is set up episodically, and it really does feel like you are playing a serialized tv show at some points. The pacing always keeps you on your toes, and it is an insanely hard game to put down once you start playing. The story is the thing that keeps the pacing up and, in a word, it is an incredibly intriguing yarn. Mysteries are answered and always present new questions, and the ending is something people will be debating for a long time. Remedy has promised a slew of downloadable content and I, for one, will be right there to see what the future holds for Alan Wake. Even with all this emphasis on story, gameplay does not fall by the wayside, and it is actually where most of the scares in this thriller jump out. Alan always carries a flashlight and either a revolver or some type of two handed weapon, and using the flashlight as your aiming reticle was a smart move that fits the game perfectly. Most enemies must be weakened by light before being taken out with the guns, and you can focus the beam of the flashlight, but it drains the batteries quickly, requiring you to change batteries often. You really need to manage your batteries and ammo, which is an obvious way in which the game was influenced by the survival horror genre. The game provides some heart pounding moments when you are whittling down an enemies defenses as they bear down on you with an axe, and when you are hit from behind by an enemy you didn't see, it will make you jump. Sometimes the game varies up the combat a bit, giving you a flare gun and flashbangs that act like small vessels of death against your light-shunning enemies, or throwing poltergeist objects at you that can only be hurt by the hard stare of your flashlight. Alan Wake is six episodes long, and it will take between 8 and 12 hours to beat depending on difficulty. It provides some excellent set pieces along the way, including driving down back woods roads and a scene slightly reminiscent of Left 4 Dead 2 (you'll know when you get there). Alan Wake is also no slouch technically, as it is one of the best looking games on the 360, with some of the best lighting and layered weather effects I've ever seen. Overall Alan Wake is a tense ride that is only tempered by it's somewhat short length.
Final Score 9.0 out of 10

-Smith

Rockstar blows my mind

Let's just start with this, I didn't play GTA4 so this is the first Rockstar open world game I've played. Man can they pull it off; Red Dead Redemption is a masterpiece of storytelling, gameplay, and atmosphere that comes together to make one of my favorite games of the year. The real way Red Dead Redemption excels is in the atmosphere of the Old West. Everything feels authentic, from the way the land is barren, to the ghost towns in the middle of the plains, Duels in the middle of town, even to the way the period accurate weapons feel and fire. Speaking of the weapons, for simple repeaters and revolvers, firefights in Red Dead require a large amount of strategy and are very exciting. The game has a full working cover system, that works well most of the time, but can glitch very rarely to where you might not be able to take cover behind objects. The Dead Eye ability (which allows you to slow down time and mark enemies) is a meter you need to constantly watch as it can become a crutch to lean on in some of the game's harder showdowns. Also, the horse riding controls are unrivaled in the medium. There are tons of completely optional side missions, but all are fun and as fully realized as some of the story missions. And as for the story, it is one of the most finely crafted revenge tales I've heard in a long time, with an ending that is shocking and you won't see coming. As I've said in a previous post, John Marston is a complex character, and he, along with several of Rockstar's patented freaks and wackos. Even the good guy have problems, from a cocaine using professer to a womanizing leader of the Mexican Revolution, Rockstar shows how good and evil is a relative view a lot of the time. I've already touched on the atmosphere, and the graphics really add to that. A full day and night cycle paired with excellent lighting provides one of the best looking games I've seen. Also, Red Dead contains a full on multiplayer suite that includes capture the flag variants, deathmatch, team deathmatch, and everything else you'd expect. Every match starts with a Mexican style standoff, which is a nice Wild West flavor added in. Characters can be fully customized and you can roam with people throughout the entire game map, hunting and taking out gang hideouts, all the while earning experience to use in the competitive modes. In closing Red Dead Redemption is an incredible game with a story and production values to boot.
Final Score=9.5 out of ten

-Smith

The Virus of Space Marines

I have been playing through Red Dead Redemption lately (review to come later) and the character of John Marston got me thinking that there just aren't that many truly interesting characters in games these days. John Marston is the antithesis of uninteresting. He is complex and his motives are sound, and his views on certain issues and ideas come out through the dialogue Rockstar wrote so well. But for the majority of games these days, how many can truly claim to have a truly interesting character who isn't simply a hardened marine or the cliched "everyman" who gets caught up in something bigger than him? With such games as Gears of War, Prince of Persia (the 2008 release) and Killzone 2, you get either the wise cracking everyman or the marine who wants to kill a whole lot of aliens or people or whatever. Call it lazy on the developers part. Personally, I think that the whole thing behind the space marine epidemic is that developers don't want you to care about the characters sometimes, instead wanting you to focus on the situation the characters are in or on how much crap they can blow up. With the everyman, I see it as a way for developers to make a character relatable to the audience. But sometimes we don't need to relate to a character, sometimes we want to see what THEY think, what THEY want, and how THEY are different from us. The characters of Mass Effect or Heavy Rain really show us how character progression is done right. Those to games had me caring about those characters too the point of thinking about them even when I wasn't playing the game. That's the sign of a good game and, the sign of a good character. I'm having a top ten list of my favorite characters go up soon and be sure to comment on the issue in the comments below. (Speaking of comments, thanks Jessepe)

-Smith

Why is the biggest always the most evil?

Yes it seems that, as Abe Lincoln said so long ago "If you want to test a man, give him power". Well the "man" I'm talking about is Activision, and they have most certainly failed that test. I can't say we didn't see there eventually corruption coming. From charging a 120 bucks for a piece of crap Tony Hawk game, to CEO Bobby Kotick saying that the he might quit developing for the ps3, they have been in the headlines a lot lately. Then comes the firing of Jason West and Vince Zampella, the leaders of Infinity Ward and the two brains behind the great Modern Warfare games and four of the six COD games out so far. From what I understand West and Zampella didn't want to develop Modern Warfare 3, instead wanting to create a brand new I.P. That is fine, as a developer you are always getting new ideas and coming up with different games. However, Activision, being the biggest third-party publisher in the world, only cares about money, and I'm sure they didn't want to take the risk of publishing a non-established brand. Apparently West and Zampella went to other publishers to see if they could negotiate something, and they ended up getting fired for it. Sucks for Activision. Soon after, West and Zampella filed a class action lawsuit, claiming they had sole rights to develop any Call of Duty game set after The Vietnam War. I've seen the agreement, technically they do have creative control. I guess that explains the setting of Black Ops huh? Until this whole thing is sorted out Activision can't make a COD game after Vietnam in risk of violating that contract. It seems these issues aren't stopping West and Zampella though, as they formed Respawn Entertainment and soon basically everyone from Infinity Ward had joined them. They have even signed with Activision's biggest competitor, EA, to help work on the new Medal of Honor, a franchise they also created. More power to them. I'm fed up with Activision trying to "Maddenize" all of their franchises and firing two of their best developers because of their inability to take a risk on a new franchise. I am currently boycotting Activision and their ridiculously priced Stimulus Package. Here's hoping Respawn really shows up Activision this year

-Smith

Wow the first non-game post

Yes, this is my first non-game post. Then again I've only had two posts so this isn't exactly the Cubs winning the world series here. But I do have to comment on what I watched last night. I, for the first and last time, watched twilight. Yes indeed, and to anyone who says the sparkly immortal gods in there are vampires I say go read flippin Dracula where it all started. I mean I'm sure the director thought she made a good movie (although I've heard she was fired immediately after the film was released) but I for one, found no redeeming quality in it. No plot even entered the movie for at least an hour and a half! Kristen Stewart looked like she was on drugs and both her and Pattinson mumbled all of their lines. Heck Mass Effect is wayyyy better written then "The biggest romance epic since Titanic" (Hollywood.com's words definitely not mine). Now my rant is off, and I promise to talk about something relevant in my next post.

-Smith

Games can't look as good as Avatar

So while I was surfing Gametrailers.com today (yes on the first day of my blog) I saw a post that announced Killzone 3 and said it was going to be in 3-D. The way it was said made it sound as if the 3-D is gonna be the big game changer for the ps3 now. They failed to mention however, that for the price of the 3-D t.v that would be needed to play it you could by a F-150 truck and have about 500 bucks left over. Now when you go to see Avatar, its 15 bucks for the ticket and glasses. I'm sure everyone saw Avatar and thought "dang that there is the future of movies". Even Avatar the game had 3-D effects (It's obviously James Cameron's way of saying "Look what I can do!"). However, I'm guessing less than 1% of Americans even own a 3-D tv. So when everyone's salavating over the effects at E3, the fact that practically no one will get to experience it themselves is cleverly hidden. 3-D may be the future of movies, but until prices go down, it is not the future of games. (P.S Hi Rachel)

-Smith

Stickin' It To the Man

And so begins the summer. Right after school let out I quickly realized that summer was going to be a long, boring affair that would consist of me getting up at six in the morning and playing either Red Dead Redemption or Alan Wake until my eyes bled. Of course I needed an alternative, out of that need so came DGRO. I figured if I don't want to waste my entire day playing video games, why not waste it by talking about them and the industry as a whole. To all three (probably less) people who are reading this let me tell you that if you don't like my sarcastic snarky tone and the way I see things then you can go to freakin gamespot where all they care about is pleasing the fanboys. Well, I'm not here to please fanboys, I'm here to please gamers.

-Smith