This is going to be a completely fresh perspective! I had never ventured in to a Diablo game until I picked up a copy of Diablo III Reaper of Souls, Ultimate Evil Edition. OH WHAT A GAME!! Furthermore, a little reading has led me to believe that Blizzard have vastly improved on the mechanics, environments and overall experience of the player. Let's take a look!
I was thrusted upon the plains of the demonic baron land, poised and ready as my chosen character class, a Monk, a female monk to be precise. I was relieved to find that I was barely able to customise my character attributes. Instead, I found myself wanting to dive head first in to a mystical world not yet ventured.
At the beginning of the game I was surprised at how user friendly the battle mechanics felt. To be blunt, I felt like I was button mashing as each skill was mapped to one single button during combat. THIS felt great due to a feeling of power being exerted over the enemies. It was this realisation that made me fall head over heels with Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. You know that feeling when you become completely lost in a game? Transfixed on every motion? That was me in the very early stages of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, UEE. Fortunately, this was a consistent feature. As I progressed, I found that the weapon and skill upgrades made for a MORE immersive gaming experience. My favourite skill was The Tempest Rush which created a huge charge of energy to be directed in to enemy territory! BOOM!
I remember the first time I popped Oblivion in to my PS3 and felt dauntingly overwhelmed by the menus and inventory system. I DID NOT feel this was the case as I took my first tour around the inventory menus in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, UEE. Everything felt 'contained' without too many sub menus that would often lead me to getting lost in an Elder Scrolls game. Perfect! As much as I love complex Role Playing Games this was a welcomed break to meander through an easier system. In turn, this meant more time in combat and tackling quests.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, UEE brought me in to contact with a vast array of enemies. Far too many to list but all with a unique sense of power. Despite this, I always felt as though I had the upper hand in battles. My difficulty setting was of a 'normal' level but I plan to replay the game on a harder setting to test my theory. What made for easier battles was the tactile nature of the NPC's. Usually I am skeptical of 'added baggage' but the games 'followers' proved a real asset. My tactic was to evade from direct battle if my health was low. I'd circle around whilst waiting for my potion to recharge. My trusty followers remained with locked swords acted as the IDEAL distraction for my potion to recharge. HIT L1, replenish my health and I was back in combat!
Environmentally, there are a range of towns, dungeons, houses, bogs, crypts, swamps, inns and more. I was reminded heavily of Baldurs Gate on the Game Cube actually. I've read reviews that claim that there is 'not much to do' of which I can completely agree with. Don't expect many side quests or much else. There are small tasks to pertain to such as repairing weapons, swapping your 'followers', buying new armor and weapons and looting chests. I enjoyed the more linear, approach compared to other role playing games. It felt like a rewarding task to repair your inventory, change the colours of your team flag and talk to other locals back at base in New Tristam, rather than feel overwhelmed by huge maps, inventories, sub menus and characters. Here is the crucial factor for me. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, UEE gave me the perfect balance of quests, combat, leveling and open world versus linear monotony.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Ultimate Evil Edition is available to buy NOW on Playstation3, Xbox 360, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. If you want more from me then SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel here You can purchase Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Ultimate Evil Edition by clicking the graphic below. All proceeds help me to keep this blog running. Let me know if you have played this game by sharing your experiences in the comment box below. Juicy Game Reviews
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So this week we heard that Bloodborne, FromSotwares Gothic RPG, is penned for a February 2015 release. It's safe to say that I am SO ready to pound the dark streets of the Yharman with my interchangeable melee weapons in one hand and a firearm in the other. Over the last few weeks I have been watching the game play and studying the environments to look for clues about how my own journey throughout Yharman will pan out. Like Thief, Bloodborne is set against a Victorian backdrop of which I would describe as a plague fueled demonic labyrinth. During the early game play seconds I noticed how well the developers, FromSoftware, had manipulated the use of light by bouncing it off the musky water puddles that were lay along the cobbled streets. This gave me a sense of bleakness as the environment felt even more cold and damp. From the ground up, our main protagonist motioned along whilst often encountering enemies wielding weapons. THIS was another great point that I noticed. The enemies appeared to make great use of their weapons, particularly those that possessed a gun of some sort. I have played many games in which the NPC's have tooled up with weapons for more of an aesthetic purpose than an offensive one. Despite this, I noticed that the enemies appeared slow in their movement which made it easier to launch melee attacks. Conclusively, I thought the game play looked easier than in previous Souls games. I could be completely wrong of course. There has been a lot of talk about the combat systems in Bloodborne. If you watch the game play closely you may notice that the melee weapon can transform by increasing the reach which inevitably will increase the damage to a group of enemies. This occurs by pressing 'L1' during close quarter combat. This element appeared to enhance the speed of a battle. I watched the game play numerous times and noted that point on every occasion. The game play didn't appear to showcase much use of the 'shotgun looking' weapon. I've always been a player that enjoys a weapon in both hands so this is a positive for me from the start. I am unsure if we will be able to change the gun to another melee weapon or if the gun will be a permanent feature. Either way, the combat looks incredibly smooth, gory and balanced. May I say that the sounds of 'steel on steel' in the CQC and the squelching of the blood as it projectile shot from an enemy after being torn apart by the saw clever were also very satisfying. Shapes, size and vigour. Yes, the game play spoke volumes to me about the enemy range. Well, it was actually my own perception of the range of enemies, albeit, a reasonable range. The one that caught my eye was the Cleric Beast of which I have since read is a boss in Bloodborne. During battle, the Cleric Beast squeezed out sounds that were reminiscent of a whaling banshee and flung its bustling revealed rib cage in to motion. The sheer size of the beast was intimidating but nonetheless, seemed reasonably easy to attack as slow movements and a slow recovery time were a flaw in its tactics. I am certain that there is much more to learn about Bloodborne and I will certainly be preordering the game for the February 2015 launch. If you want to preorder today then please click on the graphic below to get great deals on Bloodborne and MANY other awesome games.
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I cannot recall the last time I was so packed full of anticipation as I learnt that there was a playable demo available on PSN for the upcoming Silent Hills. I leapt even higher to learn that Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro would be the joint mastermind behind our next Silent Hill(s) plot. Some have doubted such a duo but me, I believe it to be one the of the greatest gaming production duos to date. On the one hand we have the remarkably creative genius behind the Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania series and on the other, a director that boasts the likes of Blade II, Hellboy and Pans Labyrinth to his lengthy list of visuals. Whichever way you chose view this partnership there is no denying that the playable teaser for Silent Hills delivered a very strong start. In relation to this partnership Kojima was quoted as saying "we originally wanted you to pee your pants. Now we want you to shit your pants". So the goal is clear from the get go!
I smiled as Kojma's gimick titled "7780s Studios" greeted me at some of the first screens. Obviously I knew that this studio did not exist so I asked, What did it stand for? A little bit of research led me to find that '7780s' is a code for Silent Hills. Kojima cleverly used '7780' as this is a postal/zip code for a location within the Shizuoka region of Japan. In English the location translates to 'Quiet Hills'. 'Silent', another name for quiet and we have 'Silent Hills'.
Upon my first patrol through the corridors of mysterious house, I began to think that I was missing something. I couldn't interact with any objects, although there seemed to be plenty in my path. I didn't know who I was, why I was there and what my goal was. I conceivably guessed that my objective was to escape from the house. But I was playing a Silent Hills demo and the path was not that straight forward. NO, I found the game play to be packed full of puzzles that were not obvious AT ALL! The game play looped with each loop containing subtle changes of which I started to pay great attention to by the third loop. Aside from frustration, I felt full of wonderment; I wanted to know what had happened, who I was and why this 'fun house' contained broken clues to the story. This really was becoming one of the most THRILLING gaming teases I had played.
At all times, I felt on my guard, just waiting for a scare. I have played all of the Silent Hill games on past consoles and I am used to patrolling through dark environments and having the crap scared out of me. I was not let down by the NEW Silent Hills or P.T experience. There's a scene in the demo with a fridge that is suspended in the foyer. What happens, or rather doesn't, felt disturbing to me. I won't spoil it by fully divulging the details but I felt as though I needed to progress AS I WANTED THE NOISES TO STOP! Unfortunately there was a tricky puzzle around this part so I had to suffer the noises for quite some time. Typical right?!
In order to progress through the loops there were puzzles to solve. Naturally, clues were sparse but due to the nature of the environment, closed, repetitive, small; it wasn't long before I started to decipher the puzzles within this tease. Here is a SPOILER so DO NOT read the rest of this paragraph if you do not want to know. There are six pieces of a portrait that need to be collected in order to progress. Admittedly, I struggled to find all six pieces but if you use the 'zoom' function in certain area you will see the pieces. Here is the location of the most cleverly hidden piece: Located within the 'pause' menu. Pause the game and ZOOM in to the brain on the right. A piece of the picture will appear. The final portrait is located to the upper right of the digital clock and will automatically piece together as you find them.
I think that we have come a long way since with first Silent Hill demo but I feel that the series has always remained true to its roots: eerie, mature, gory and twisted. I could go on. I now find it incredibly IRONIC that the first EVER demo for Silent Hill was bundled in to Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation 1. BRILLIANT!!
Overall, the Silent Hills demo is a fantastic tease that made me ask many questions. I am eager to play more and hopefully gain some answer to those questions. Playstation 4 owners can download the P.T demo from PSN for free today. GOOD LUCK ON THE LAST PUZZLE. That's all I shall say on that matter! Gemma ~ Juicy Game Reviews I slipped 'The Last of Us' Disc in to my Playstation 4 last weekend and chose to embark on my first taste of the games DLC: Left Behind. As we know, this DLC is bundled in to the Remastered version of The Last of Us, a title in which claimed over 200 awards including numerous 'Best Game' awards. Hand on my ticker, I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS GAME and playing through Left Behind added to my already HIGHLY SATISFIED feelings. Left Behind continues to adopt a colourful, inviting, intriguing and boastful array of environments, even more so in a upscaled 1080p resolution. We play as Ellie, our joint protagonist from the main campaign. Eliie continues to show strength and courage and she meanders her way through labyrinths of Clickers on her quest to help heal Joel. Now, let me just add something here. I DO NOT WANT TO SPOIL THE STORY. If you have not played the main campaign then let's just say that Ellie and Joel BOTH help one another. After all, this games central nervous system stems from survival. Needless to say, the Left Behind DLC forges the gaps within the main campaign and it does so incredibly well. For me, I found there to be a sweet balance of total peace mixed with stealth to pulse racing action. I felt connected to Ellie in a way that the main campaign did not allow for. She was alone (during one half of the DLC), driven, gutsy and determined! Naughty Dog did a phenomenal job of creating Ellie's character and slowly allowing her to evolve across the main campaign and in Left Behind. The second part of Left Behind (or the first whichever way you want to look at it) portrays the prequel of the main game in which I was introduced to Riley. I learnt that Riley was the best friend of Ellie and had been away for some time. The two meet again for the first time and the story unfolded from there. Again, I was absolutely floored at how Naughty Dog had pieced this slice of the pie together. The backdrop was in a mall (and this was DEFINITELY my favourite aspect of the DLC) in which Ellie and Riley patrol through whilst locked in conversation. I found their conversation to be incredibly entertaining especially when the two friends were trying on masks in the Halloween Store. I found these moments to be incredibly tender that allowed me to learn about Ellie and Riley's friendship. They were very close and compassionate towards each others cause and I felt touched by their relationship (oh wow you should see what happens after the water fight). Again, FIRST CLASS character development from Naughty Dog. Towards the end of Ellie and Riley's ploy, I ended on a pinnacle moment. WARNING SPOILER ALERT....... it was the moment in which Ellie had got bitten. I was gripped, totally gripped at how this moment happened. I've said before on my YouTube channel that I LOVE it when a game connects with me in a way that my body responds. This truly was an amazing experience and I am thirsty to play through the next chapter of The Last of Us.
Want to play? You can order The Last of Us for the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 using this affiliates link. FREE shipping to the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. Alternatively, click on the graphic below. I have JUST read the most ridiculous article about the 'direct correlation between playing video games and drinking, smoking and unprotected sex'. It was ridiculous, not just because I do not agree with it, but because of the COMPLETE LACK OF EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE!!!!! Whilst this blog is not about reviewing a video game as such, it is about reviewing a prevalent topic linked directly to this HUGE virtual world. I am going to swear in this blog because I am HIGHLY passionate about video games and how they affect our social interaction. I will not name the author nor will I name the source as I do not want to be sued. I will not directly quote from the article either. What I will tell you is that this is tabloid slander at its fucking finest. The article makes the MOST obvious comparison to the Grand Theft Auto series (which is a load of shit right from the get go!). Naturally, this game introduces players to a wide array of criminal activity SO, it's no wonder that this SHIT article mentioned this game in it's title. It suggests that 'Scientists' studied 5,000 American teenagers across four years and found..... WAIT FOR IT...... that the teenagers that played the most adult rated video games (yes Grand Theft Auto) were more likely to have unprotected sex, smoke and show signs of aggression!! I have a huge qualm about this statement. Firstly, this article DID NOT tell us what kind of background these kids derived from. There could have been a TON of factors that led to showing delinquent behaviour. Let's stream a few: Family breakdown, poverty, too much money, bad role models, abuse, domestic violence could potentially be linked. NOTHING! We are told nothing about the kids. To add personal context, my cousin has played video games (Including ALL Grand Theft Auto games) since the age of FIVE! He is now sixteen. He has never been in trouble with the police. Never smoked. Never consumed alcohol. Never skipped school. Never showed any signs of promiscuity and IS GOING TO COLLEGE IN SEPTEMBER TO STUDY GAME DESIGN! Do the maths! The very same article uses incredibly flimsy definitions like 'Scientists'. Are we serious?? 'Scientists'. This is such a broad term. In addition, if we are going to present findings that condemn video games to hell then surely we should be more specific about the researchers?? There are NO names mentioned of any of the researchers which makes me question the validity of such loose findings. Naturally, I am thinking that this is another, albeit, WEAK attempt to dent the culture of video gaming and all that venture in to the virtual world of gaming. Additionally, there is no mention to ANY of the 'scientists' names. Therefore, we are unable to cross reference any of this for validity purposes.
In the title of this blog I asked: "Are we all doomed?" My answer is "no". Simple, we are not doomed. I accept that media can influence violent crimes. Note that I wrote 'influenced' as opposed to 'caused'. My personal opinion is that for those individuals that dare break the law; do so for many reasons that are too complex to discuss here. Video game playing may be a coincidental factor in the path of those individuals. Finally, we can scour the internet ALL DAY and find many positive stories about how video games are linked to improving logical, reasoning and problem solving skills in people of all ages. For this, I am grateful. I have been playing video games for twenty six years and I have never broken the law or deliberately harmed another human being. Now I'm going to spend my evening playing Grand Theft Auto V. Let me know your thoughts in the comment box below. PEACE. Juicy Game Reviews NOOOOO!!!! Dragon Age Inquisition has now been delayed!!!! Luckily it is only for one month. I first heard this news via IGN and my stomach dropped. I thought "oh great, another E3 announcement title delayed for a fucking year" which does happen from time to time. However, as soon as they said "for one month" I felt more at ease. With this in mind I wanted to dissect the Dragon Age Inquisition Game Play Series demo's that can be found on the Dragon Age YouTube channel. There are two videos released in Alpha format that I have been watching avidly. As a HUGE fan of Bioware's series, Dragon Age, I am full of anticipation when it comes to Inquisition's release. Mike Laidlaw, creative director of Inquisition, guides us through the demo and boasts that Dragon Age Inquisition "is larger than the entire play space than Dragon Age Origins". Naturally, I would expect this particularly as we are firmly in to the 'next gen era' of consoles. The path we take, as the Quinari Mage is an overland journey. A journey that I believe showcases some stunning environments. We are headed towards Redcliffe Village and so push our way through a multi terrain littered with cliffs, trees, shrubbery and intermittent danger. Mike Laidlaw calls this "The World Master System". A system that is dynamic depending on how we choose to interact with the environment. Again, I must stress that I would expect this from an Role Playing Game so this detail does not "WOW" me. I have always been fond of the leadership abilities in battle and in plight in the previous two Dragon Age games. Inquisition continues to adopt this popular trait whereby players can command their team in to a strategic battle form. I am content with this. There's nothing better than planning your next attack to move forward. I enjoyed seeing this within the Alpha build game play demo. With this, the battle scenes looked busy and exciting. I found it slightly frustrating though as I did not understand the interface of the commands. On the flip side, I found this to be a 'gaming tease' as it is something that I look forward to learning about once the game is released in November 2014. What would a Dragon Age game be without........ A DRAGON?! In the first alpha game play video Mike Laidlaw commented "Dragons are so large that we've changed the way you target them. Individually attacking their limbs and tails..." GREAT! This looked and sounded great. The High Dragon shown in the Alpha demo occupied over SIX minutes of a sixteen minute video. Obviously, Bioware want us to TAKE NOTE! The ordeal that ensued in this fight seemed punishing but appetizing enough to make me want to jump straight in a play. In the second video, we start off in Redcliffe Castle. Instantly I notice how dark, bleak and dangerous the environment appeared. This was a stark contrast to the first video in which we are greeted by the greenery of Inquisitions appeal. I see exactly why the developers made the distinction in the videos. Naturally, it makes sense to show us players a multitude of pastures. The two videos were released three days apart SO my next point could be entirely coincidental: I found that the graphics in the second demo to have looked MUCH more refined in terms of textures and frame rate. Can anyone tell a difference or is it just me? Let me know in the comments. The picture below shows an example of the graphics in a character close up from the second Alpha Demo video. I thoroughly enjoyed viewing the Alpha Game Play demos of Dragon Age Inquisition. Yes, we have to wait ONE MONTH longer but the wait will be wholeheartedly worth it. For now, I am going to continue to enjoy the new demo releases.
You can pre-order Dragon Age Inquisition from this affiliates link and enjoy FREE delivery to the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. Already, I am sick of hearing the comparisons between Destiny and Halo. I was not impressed as I stood in a game store last week and opened a conversation about my excitement for Destiny. The shop worker replied "yeah well it's Halo isn't it?!". I respectfully disagreed and outlined my reasons why. I left the store thinking 'What a dick' especially after he used a condescending tone during the debate. Now that I have played the beta release of Destiny, I stand FIRM in my arguments that Destiny is not Halo, but a fantastic, immersive and visually stunning game in it's own right. I'm going to talk to you about my first experiences of playing the beta release. I was laced with excitement as I watched the percentage increase when Destiny Beta was installing on my Playstation 4. At this point I would like to give thanks to a fellow gamer, Jeroenps4, for providing me a beta download code. YOU STAR! Once I saw it reach 100% and the load screen kicked in, I was poised and ready to choose my class. My choices were out of three: 'Titan, Hunter and Warlock'. I chose the 'Hunter' class as I wanted to have the power combined with mobility within my character. NOW, let me tell you something that I noticed here. I felt SO, SO, SO packed full of anticipation to play this game at this point. Why? Graphically, the characters looked stunning as they swayed slightly on screen prior to making my final choice. I felt an instant connection for some reason. I couldn't believe that this was a beta release? It felt like a final product. After choosing the remaining customizations; details such as face shape, hair and eye colour etc, I ventured forth in to cut scene which I was thrusted upon Mars, present day. I can honestly report that I was fucking mezmorized at the graphical content amidst the backdrop of atmospheric music. This was a consistent feature of Destiny - Beta. I found the music and 'flash sound effects' to add to my experiences in the actual game play. Now add shadows! As I meandered through corridors and across well lit landscape, shadows from enemies would often lean around a corner, alerting me to what lay ahead. More often than not, I would JUMP at seeing this flash of grey coupled with a corresponding sound effect. I felt so much adrenaline!! I also want to note that the use of shadows worked effectively on stationary objects such as netting that hung from ceilings. The shadows made me feel enclosed and trapped which spurred my motivation to progress away from the area. YES, I WANTED TO PROGRESS, TO EXPLORE AND TO VENTURE! Environmentally, Destiny Beta continued to 'knock my socks off'. There's a moment in the earlier stages of the game in which I was greeted with a vast opening of outdoor marvels. Let me paint a picture for you. Crystal blue and green pops of colour littered the skyline. CUE an incoming enemy ship in the distance that disappeared behind a cliff face. In front of me stood anorexic looking trees dotted across a multi-terrain spread of grays, blues in the landscape. A cloud of fine dust skimmed my line of sight. I could see in to the limitless distance. I was in First Person Shooter paradise! Onwards I went! Looking down my sights on my rifle was as pleasing at it has ever been! I believe that Bungie had done an amazing job in creating a depth of field that allowed me to feel as though I was really behind the trigger. There was a clear fore, mid and background within my line of sight. A sensation of absolute satisfaction infiltrated my gamer brain. I kept asking myself: "Is this really a beta version?" There are a catalogue of enemies I faced in Destiny Beta. Naturally, I'd guess that that catalogue will increase in the final game. I found there to be a even balance of combat and solitary exploring. Allow me to elaborate. I came in to possession of a sniper rifle early on in the demo. Unlike, Halo, I felt that I could stealth through a patch of enemies to find a safe camping spot to pick off those enemies with my sniper rifle. During my chosen stealth modes, I felt a sense of 'ninja like solitude' which became a part of my tactics to pick off enemies whilst taking minimal damage. Overall, Destiny Beta is an amazing experience. I want to play it more and more and I am eagerly awaiting the final release. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THOUGHT OF DESTINY BETA.
Thanks for reading. Gemma a.k.a Juicy Game Reviews Tales Of Xillia on the Playstation 3 was my first encounter with the long running 'Tales' series. I want to talk to you about the finesse I found from within this game and also tie it to some of the flaws. Tales Of Xillia was released just under a year ago and is a Japanese Role Playing Game packed full of wonder, charm and commitment. Initially, I was unsure about the game play as I first started to navigate Milla Maxwell, the female protagonist, around the first dungeon. Milla is one of two characters that, we, as players get to choose before our quest begins. I felt an element of mysticism to her presence which made me choose her as my first play through. Jude, the second protagonist, appeared younger and immature in comparison to Milla that became entwined in the story as if by accident. I soon learned that my initial impressions of Jude were mis-guided, especially as he was such an asset in battle. I don't want to dwell on the story too much here as I do not want to spoil too much for those who have not played Tales Of Xillia. The beauty of this game lays within a mosaic of traits and not just within the story. I was particularly impressed with the battle systems and overall mechanics. Going in to battle for the first time in JRPG's can be an intimidating experience. Usually players are over presented with a heavy interface of menus and sub-screens. I DID NOT have this experience in Tales of Xillia. I was guided by the option of a 'Tutorial' mode before advancement in to battle. Once I had learnt the basics (which took me no time) I felt at ease and confident enough to 'walk' in to enemies with no trepidation. As a player, I felt motivated to be on the offensive in battles because I wanted the rewards of leveling compared to previous JRPG's in which I have been guilty of evading or exiting battle. 'Linking' is another unique feature of the battle system. You can choose to assign your character to link with another. Tales Of Xillia does a fantastic job of explaining the benefits of each characters linking abilities with another. After 10 hours in to the game I found that Jude was my favourite character to pair with. There I was, in the beginning of the game, perceiving Jude as 'weak'. Chain combos and speed of battle seemed slicker with Jude. You may feel different. WOW. Am I still talking about the BATTLE SYSTEM? Yes I am. Tales OF Xillia places emphasis on free movement within a battle. It's not a typical 'turn based' role playing game. THIS was my absolute favourite feature as I felt that I had more freedom and control over my characters. ADD some features around 'tactics, Items, Strategy' and you have got yourself a perfect recipe for a well refined battle system. Now here is my ONLY GRIPE. The music became immensely repetitive as did the 'victory slang'. The cut scenes in Tales Of Xillia are anime in style and can annoyingly run for a great length of time. Not to worry though, there is a 'Skip Cut Scene' option, an option that you may think "why the fuck would I do that, I'll miss the story?" (just like I did). However, I soon began to use it. In game graphics are....... nice. I would describe them as 'Anime, Cell shaded-esque'. To cap it, the frame rate is smooth and I didn't experience any nasty glitches. WIN! Speaking of 'Wins' Tales Of Xillia provides a comfortable cast of characters to help us along the way. We soon meet our first, Alvin, a well traveled freelance mercenary, or so he claims to be. Secondly, we are greeted by Elize, a young girl who is accompanied by a strange looking, floating character. Imagine a purple condom, with facial features and TERRIBLE voice acting! That is all I shall say on that matter. Leia and Rowen are also part of the fighting cocktail, all with unique abilities as characters but also unique abilities when linking in battles. The back drop we are set against is a dangerous world. Often this world made me believe that I was in an open world game. NO! I found the game play to be linear and most points of interest were annoyingly out of reach. Some doors on buildings are dummy's, some beaches are there for aesthetic purposes only and some vines are unclimbable. Despite this, I was entrenched within the Tales world of colour, beauty and wonderment. Had this game have been open world, it may have been TOO BIG. After all, this is not an Elder Scrolls game. As a final point I'd like to draw your attention to: Lilium Orbs. The Lilium Orb is a simple set of nodes of which each character has one. I found this a SIMPLE method to glide through the level up system. As I fought and won in battles, each member of my party was awarded points to spend on the Lilum Orb. The cursor highlighted the trait of the orb and I could decide if I wanted to spend my points on that particular orb. This was a tasteful aspect of Tales of Xillia that made my experience feel USER FRIENDLY. I adore this game.
Overall, this game is solid. Tales of Xillia is charming, exciting, beautiful and inviting. Aside from certain portions of monotony, I felt excited each time I picked up my PS3 controller. You can buy this amazing game through this affiliate link or by clicking on the graphic below. Juicy Game Reviews A recent trip to the now defunct Core Design Studios, the same studios that created Lara Croft in 1996, got me thinking about the role and importance of female leads in our video games today. This is not a battle about the sexes of 'Male Vs Female' video game characters but more of a catalogue of thoughts about evolution of strong female leads. If you ask anybody at school, in your workplace or at home, to name a female video character, I would hedge my bets on them replying "Lara Croft". Lara occupied millions of Playstation's in the nineties and was adorned millions of young men and women. I remember observing ALL of my male friends back in 1996 trying to line up a profile shot of Lara in order to sample the size of her upper polygons: her breasts. Would my friends have done the same if the character had been a man? I could not have imagined my friends saying "Look at his pectorals, wow". Ironically, Tomb Raider's early development was created with the lead as a MALE which obviously would have meant, No Lara. I think that Core Design had made the RIGHT choice by developing Lara Croft. She was tall, strong, witty, athletic, sexy, rich, independent and gutsy....and had boobs. WIN!! She was appealing and every trait she possessed WORKED! Now ask yourself this: If Core Design had stuck with their original Male protagonist, would the series have appealed as much? Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know. I have enjoyed many, many games with a strong female and male lead. I have also enjoyed games in which the female character had taken a secondary role alongside the lead character. Let's talk about Ashleigh in Resident Evil 4. Arguably, she is the opposite of Lara. She appears weak, innocent, fragile, small in stature, clueless, lost and definitely not as sexualised as Lara Croft. She is rescued and carried, literally. I find this interesting, particularly as female characters in Resident Evil games usually adopt stronger traits. Jill Valentine is a prime example of this. I will come back to this point. I recently competed The Last Of Us on the Playstation 3 in which we see the second playable character, Ellie, accompany the lead, Joel. Unlike Lara who was originally portrayed as strong and gutsy all of the time, we see Ellie adopt a myriad of roles. She transitions between strong, passive, lead character, second character, victim and warrior. I find this more versatile approach in a game absolutely compelling and charming as I felt a deeper connection to Ellie than I had ever felt with another female character. There are SO, SO, SO many female video game characters that adopt a single behavioural mode within a game that I have begun to disengage with the actual IMMERSION of a story. Allow me to give you another example. I love Final Fantasy 10 of which I am currently playing through again. Yuna is cast (excuse the pun) as a Summoner in Final Fantasy X (and later in Final Fantasy X-2) and was surprisingly ranked as 20th 'hottest video game character of all time" in 2012. My perception of Yuna is very different. I don't view her a sexualised character at all. Although she is strong, brave, gutsy and kick ass (Like Lara) her personality is far too monotonous for my taste. In comparison to Ellie with her myriad of traits, Yuna appears flat, quiet, 'still like' and guarded. Most Japanese readers may argue this point with me. I didn't connect with Yuna as much as I would have liked. I have made THREE categories of female video game characters that I want to share with you. Firstly, there is the 'Strong Female Protagonist'. Like Lara Croft and Commander Shepard (Mass Effect 3), two women that get stuck in to the action and have the ability to command independently or as part of a unit. Fear is a motivator. Secondly, there is a 'Strong Second'. Like Ellie or Alyx in Half Life 2, we see a prominent personality and a wealth of transitions within the story. Finally, we see a 'Weak Second'. Like Ashleigh in Resident Evil 4, she is the opposite of the strong. Fear is the oppressor. All three roles are as equally important in my opinion as they contribute to the story in some way. In 2014, I dare say that it is not all about 'looks' when we are discussing female characters. We don't need to see a pair of breasts wobble across our 40" flat screens to be hooked on a game. No, but we can be immersed and entwined deep within the roots of a character if the story allows it. I am going to end on that note: for me 'feeling' and 'emotion' in a story is imperative to enhancing ANY lead characters perception by the player. What do you guys thinks? Be Social and leave me a comment in this blog.
For ALL of your gaming needs you can click this affiliates link or click the graphic below and satisfy your gaming taste. By doing so you will be helping me to maintain this blog. Thank you, Juicy Game Reviews Let's get one thing straight here.... This is not a review. Minecraft is arguably one of the most talked about, searched, viewed and played games of this generation. I do not want to fall in to the trap of conceiving another review about this stunningly conceptual world we now know as Minecraft. My goal here is simple. To blog about my VERY FIRST experiences with the game. Until recently I had never entered the creative, yet soothing world of Minecraft. I happily purchased my copy on the Playstation 3 approximately three weeks ago and boasted bashfully on my YouTube Pick Ups video "I'd always been against Minecraft until now". Somebody asked me "Why were you against it?" My answer was simple. I was naive in thinking that this game had no goal, no real purpose. I was proven VERY wrong. I muscled straight in to 'Survival Mode'. Now for somebody that had never played Minecraft, I realized that this was a bad mistake. Dropped in to the middle of this snowy, vast and barron land, I found myself frustrated at having to mine for materials. I desperately wanted to create my first dwelling so as to escape the snow and monsters that crawled around the map as soon as night fell. I found myself uttering phrases like "Shit I'm outta wood" part way through laying a floor. Off I went to 'chop, mine and gather' until I was satisfied I could complete my first house. This did not happen. I quickly became dissatisfied with the lack of progress. Not to mention my frequent pummeling by Creepers, Skeletons and Zombies. What was my response? I embarked in to the endless and fruitful round of 'Creative Mode'. HEREIN LAY THE POSSIBILITIES OF MINECRAFT! I found that all of my supplies were unlimited thus, wasted no time in building my first house. As an intently visual person, I am drawn to bright colours, symmetry and 'expensive' aesthetics. Gold Ore and Glow stones were therefore my material of choice of erecting the walls of my very first home in Minecraft. I soon became transfixed in to laying every block on top of one another and felt obsessed with my imagination overflowing on to the screen before me. THIS IS AMAZING! Why was I so against this game? What a fool I was. Before I knew it I had created the shell of a mammoth three story tall house equipped with two balconies and a roof that was inspired by the blocks of Tetris. Should your pallet fancy a taste of the insides of my house, rest assure as I plan on doing a house tour video on my YouTube channel as this pad has been kitted out rather nicely. My rampant crosshair did not stop there. I added a completely non-sensical underground library complete with beds, wall torches and labyrinthian steps! Oh yes, I am officially a Minecraft fan girl. Bring it on!
As time ventured on, so did I. This game is an absolute corker. My imagination danced erratically each time I popped this disc in to my Playstation 3. Five hours passed, six hours passed, village trades, 'flying' characters, it's all here in the limitless world of Minecraft. I am elated with this experience. My only regret is that I did not discover it sooner. Juicy Game Reviews will see you out there. You can leap in to your own world filled with whatever your imagination desires by purchasing Minecraft via this affiliate link. |
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