Gears of War 3 = The BEST 3rd PERSON SHOOTER THIS DECADE!

   When I played the first Gears of War, words could not describe my amazement. After 3 long years of waiting, we are finally graced with Gears of War 3 which I can honestly say is one of the best games of this console generation.
   According to Gamefaqs, Gears of War 3 takes place two years after the events of Gears of War 2. The game kicks right off with a dream sequence from within the mind of the series main protagonist Marcus Fenix fighting off Locust left and right and foreshadowing events soon to take place. After this sequence the game quickly introduces more series regulars (as well as some new ones to the team) such as Dom, Marcus's right hand man who is obviously still struggling with events that happened to him in the second game. After a few intense battles the main plot of the game is finally introduced. Adam, Marcus's father happens to still be alive and is a prisoner to the locust. He has the solution to the lambent problem and possibly a way to help bring this years long war that has almost wiped out humanity to an end, it's up to Marcus to find his father and help bring this war to an end. The campaign is a non-stop ride of blasting your way through lambent, locusts, and anyone that could get in your way. Four player co-op is also available for those that would like to undertake the adventure with friends.
   The gameplay here is very standard for a Gears title. If you've never played a Gears before, it's an over the shoulder third person shooter. It revolves around taking cover in conveniently placed chest high walls and taking out the enemies as quickly as possible with many weapons like the Lancer, a regular assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet or a Sawed off Shotgun that makes any foe near it blow up into a million pieces. Not much to be said about how these games are played that hasn't already been said. Expect a very polished, fast paced shooter that rewards those who use strategy and teamwork.
   Now we get into the meat of any Gears game, the multiplayer. One of the best improvements to Gear 3 is the implementation of dedicated servers versus regular players hosting matches. This eliminates any of the "host advantage" that have plagued the last two Gears game, and have made the online experience so much more smooth and almost lag-free. Gametypes are what you would expect from Gears. The two staple gametypes of Gears return, Execution/Warzone which are 5v5 Elimination Round Based games. King of the Hill and Capture the Leader, has also returned. New this time around though is Team Deathmatch. What separates this TDM from other shooters is that there is a cap on respawns. Each team starts off with 15 respawns. Once they are all used up, they are gone for good. This keeps matches going fast and really allows new players a chance to get into the fight and not worry about dying in seconds without having a chance to play. This is by and far the most popular mode online and arguably the most fun too. Weapon balance is on point and the controls are as smooth as any shooter should be.
   Gears of War 3 is a game that will be talked about to the future generations. People will continuously brag about how future games will never live up to what Gears 3 did. According to Vgchartz, Gears of War 3 has sold over 5.29 million copies worldwide, solidifying the game as one of the best of this decade.

Link to image: http://fronttowardsgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/Gears-of-War-3-Article-Image.jpg

Other Links:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/991468-gears-of-war-3
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/44123/gears-of-war-3/

Soul Calibur 3 = Best Fighting Game!!

Back during the Playstation 2 era, many were wondering whether another Soul Calibur was to appear. Namco finally announced in late 2004 that they were making another Soul Calibur. Many feared that it would not live up to the stellar Soul Calibur 2 and were very weary on buying it, but luckily it has surpassed the second installment of the series by adding new modes, characters and even a grand create a character mode that puts even some wrestling games to shame.

   As usual, the weakest aspect of Soul Calibur's 3 is the story. According to Gamefaqs, the game follows the main story of the other games, in which the evil sword Soul Edge is being controlled and used for evil and must be stopped. By playing as good characters the goal of the story is to destroy the sword and by playing as bad characters your object is to gain its power. There is some variation in the stories of the characters but they are not different enough to be satisfying. You will often be treated to the same cut scenes over and over again in different stories in the Tales of Souls mode and it gets slightly annoying when trying to clear it with all the characters. One positive aspect of the Tales of Souls mode is the endings for each character. Unlike the last installment, the endings are not just still frame pictures, but played out with the in game graphics. If the rest of Tales of Souls played out like the endings and there were longer cut scenes it may have been a better experience. There is another mode in the game called Chronicles of the Sword, which is a totally different story, but just like Tales of Souls the story is extremely lacking and at times you will wonder why they even added one at all.

    The gameplay in Soul Calibur 3 is where the game really shines. There are over thirty playable characters and with the addition of bonus characters and the custom characters, you have a wide range of fighters to play. All the characters have different weapons giving each a different style of fighting which equates to different moves. There is a wide range of speed and power with the characters giving the stronger enemies slower, more powerful attacks and the weaker characters quick and fast attacks. The gameplay is still pretty balanced and many of the “cheap” moves from the last installment have been altered or tweaked to make them less imposing and in some cases hindering a character over all. The characters mostly retain most of there moves from the previous games but some of them have a few different moves and a lot of the moves have been mapped to different buttons. While the characters may feel different to some people it will not take long to relearn the moves that have been changed. 

   According to Vgchartz.com, Soul Calibur 3 has sold over 1.06 million copies worldwide. With over a million copies in circulation, Soul Calibur 3 has reached a level fighting games only dream of. It truly is one of the best fighting games of all time. 

Links:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/927089-soulcalibur-iii

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/19276/soulcalibur-iii/

   

Final Fantasy X = An Instant Classic

    Final Fantasy X is one of those games that sticks with you. Its a japanese rpg that became hugely successful in the west. JRPG's tend to only sell to a niche market in the west, but Final Fantasy X achieved mainstream popularity beyond any Playstation 2 role-playing game.
    According to Gamefaqs, Final Fantasy 10 tells the story of Tidus a 17-year-old rising Blitzball player from Zanarkand, a gigantic technological city that never sleeps, sharing lots of semblance to Midgard, from the FFVII-universe. Tidus is extremely cheerful and illuminates self-confidence from the first time you see him, but has built up a hateful relationship to his own father, who ran away ten years ago. One day, while Tidus were out playing an important game of Blitzball, an enormous and mysterious creature arrived to Zanarkand, annihilating everything in its sight.

While being lucky enough to survive the attack, Tidus gets mysteriously transported a thousand years into the future, and into the land of Spira. While trying to find his way back home, he comes across a bunch of people, all with their individual stories to tell. They all set out on a pilgrimage for Zanarkand as the goal, a journey where Tidus must learn about Spira's teachings, the truth about his father and even more about himself. The story, beyond my poor attempt at a summary, is much more complicated and intricate. The way each element of the story is presented should be appreciated to the utmost degree as you will be able to tell immediately from the opening sequence of the game how much effort Square put to develop a memorable story. Though the voice-overs are not without flaws it's still a very nice addition to the series, and without a doubt an enhanced way of telling a story.
 
   The game, compared to other Final Fantasy's, is much more linear, completely omitting the world map. While some people did find this controversial, the game still provides plenty of side-quests and regular game content comparable to the previous games. The RPG system introduced in FFX is by many considered the best in the series. The Sphere Grid predetermines a part of the roles your characters must act during battle, but offers a prospect to customize and upgrade them as you see fit, for later. By using Sphere Levels, obtained from defeating foes, the player can choose to move his characters a set amount of spaces on a grid while donating spheres in order to upgrade strength, HP or learn them new abilities. Although it might sound complicated from my explanation, it really isn't.

To many gamers' frustration, Square did keep the random battles. In my opinion, the random battles are not annoying as previous games. 

Putting the ATB system from several FFs on the shelf, we're back to the basics in X. Meaning that your characters no longer have to take action based on a countdown, but that you have all the time in the world to plan your strategies before making a decision. You can choose from attacking, using magic, item usage etc. Oh, and to summon of course.

While only one of your characters has the ability to summon creatures, called Aeons in FFX, Square has unarguably put a lot more thought into each of them in X. Though not being as many as in most of the previous games, the player will for the first time take full control over each individual summon during battle, deciding whether to perform attacks, use magic or even unleashing a super attack if the time is right. The player will also have the opportunity to enhance and customize the aeons a bit later on. 

The overdrives used by your characters can be used only when their overdrive gauge is filled. How it fills depends on what kind of overdrive mode you've chosen for that particular character. It varies from healing, killing to even taking damage. The overdrives themselves can often be enhanced if the player executes a tiny “mini-game” within a time-limit first.
   Overall, Final Fantasy X is a great rpg. According to Vgchatz, FFX has sold over 8 million copies worldwide solidifying it as one of the best role playing games of all time. 


Links:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/197344-final-fantasy-x
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/759/final-fantasy-x/

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 = A FANTASTIC RPG

   In the world of role-playing games, J-rpgs have established themselves as a genre only for the truly dedicated to the rpg genre. There are countless rpg's out in the market of today, but Persona 3 has definitely stood out as one of the most unique, satisfying experiences to grace the rpg world.
   According to Gamefaqs, the story begins with you naming your character, who has just transferred to Gekkoukan high school. But it's clear that not everything is clean at the seemingly average campus. Mysterious creatures called shadows are threatening the locals, spreading an dangerous disease called apathy syndrome that leaves their victims as listless as the name implies. However, their activity is  confined to the dark hour: an hour sandwiched between midnight and 1 a.m. Most people are oblivious to this hour, while others are distinctly aware of the creepy dark hour in which the haunting gloom seals most of humanity in lifeless coffins. Those unseemly heroes are in touch with their personas, which can be summoned to fight shadows in the realm of Tartarus, where most of them are restricted. At Gekkoukan, known persona users have created the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad and are determined to wipe the shadows off the face of the earth. While the entire, "saving the world" concept has been done in games countless times, Persona 3 is much more than just this trite formula. Besides the dark hour, you character is also a high school student. The character can attends classes, plays sports, and joins the student council. You have the opportunity to establish a good number of relationships with many of the inhabitants of the gameworld, from a love-struck classmate to the injured swim team captain. Each of these inhabitants has a story of his or her own, and you will find yourself feeling involved with their struggles, no matter how seemingly insignificant. However, your school day extracurricular activities are more than just minuscule gameplay elements: How you spend your time here directly affects your combat performance during the dark hour.
   Once the school day is over, you have the option of adventuring into the Dark Hour, specifically, Tartarus, the creepy tower that springs up where your school is located, during the dark hour. Tartarus is essentially a multistory skyscraper in which you climb from one floor to the next, defeating enemies as you gradually level up to handle the enemies on floors above. You can take up to three other party members who have various strengths and weaknesses with you, yet unlike in most other role-playing games, you have no direct control over them. However, you can set up general tactics for each one if you like, such as support or full-out attack. This may seem limiting at first, but as you earn more and more personas for your own character, this minor annoyance essentially disappears as you fill the roles of your party members. One of the most unique, yet disturbing elements of Persona 3's battle system is the method in which you summon your person to battle. In short, you take a pistol shaped device known as an evoker, aim it at your head, and pull the trigger. While of course not a real pistol, the image is nevertheless disturbing, and will not get boring even through the 50 plus hour adventure. New personas can be obtained through successful battles, but the better personas you will obtain through the game's persona fusion system. The fusion system is vast and expansive, with well over 100 different persona combinations, you will have your hands full with trying out various possibilities. 
   Persona 3 is a game you will remember, if not for the complex characters or intriguing story, then most certainly for the endlessly shocking fake suicides you're subjected to time and time again. This game is definitely a worthy addition to your game library. 

Link to image: http://anime.osiristeam.net/images/others/p3a.jpg


Other link: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/932312-shin-megami-tensei-persona-3

Mass Effect 2 = Legit an AWESOME GAME

   With Mass Effect 3 approaching ever so slowly, I thought it would be a good idea to give my thoughts on, what I think is a stellar entry in the franchise. Mass Effect 2 blows away any doubt that once shrouded the series, and transforms the franchise into one of the most memorable of this console generation.
   According to Gamefaqs, the game continues Commander Shepard's story after the events of the first Mass Effect. Without giving away spoilers, Shepard is sent on a routine machine to clear some geth activity, but is attacked by a race known as the collectors, who are destroying numerous human colonies. Shepard's crew manages to escape, but Shepard is blown to pieces with the ship. The plot continues the Mass Effect tradition of being extremely engaging and emotionally investing, with it's fair share of twists and build up towards the trilogy's conclusion. However, something that really stands out to me in Mass Effect 2 is the characters. A lot of my favorite parts of the game, story-wise, came from the conversations that I had with squadmates on the Shepard's ship, the Normandy, or with the NPC's in the various cities and planets throughout the game universe. The writing and conversations are truly unmatched by any other game that I have played. As the game progressed, I found myself instilled with more and more genuine hope that all of my team would make it through our mission and onto Mass Effect 3. Again, the story is just that good.
   The gameplay has undergone a massive transformation is this sequel. Gone are the clunky and slightly old gameplay conventions of Mass Effect 1, and in their place comes a much more streamlined approach. The shooting of Mass Effect 2 is much improved over Mass Effect 1, making battles exciting and violent, with enemies burning and freezing to pieces all around you. Sliding into cover is slick and easy, as is popping in and out to take potshots at the wide variety of foes that swarm you from every direction you. It helps that the two teammates accompanying you on your missions are much less of a burden than before not intelligent, but certainly smart enough to stay out of your way and stay alive. You will also have access to a variety of biotic powers via a radial menu you can bring up anytime in combat. This radial wheel will allow you to pause the combat to plan out your next move, switch weapons, and, again, rain destruction with your biotic powers. The only downside of Mass Effect 2 I can think of is the planet scanning. In Mass Effect 2, you must scan planets in order obtain resources for weapon and ship upgrades. The planet scanning becomes quickly tedious, a real blemish on a truly extraordinary game. This mechanic in the game never becomes terrible enough to hamper the experience. 
   The graphics are truly gorgeous and character models are astounding. The art of Mass Effect 2 comes out much more than in Mass Effect 1, with missions taking place in much more varied environments than the first. Mass Effect 2 plays like a tight third person shooter, with controls responding perfectly, never hampering the action-packed levels.
   Overall, Mass Effect 2 is an awesome game. According to vgchartz.com, Mass Effect 2 has sold over 3.80 million copies. The game definitely deserves such huge sales because it really is one of the crowning achievements of this gaming generation. Heres hoping Mass Effect 3 will be the fulfilling end to Commander Shepard's saga.

 Links: 
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/605239-mass-effect-2
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=mass+effect+2


Link to image:
http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/7/77/FinalboxartME2.jpg