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Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Sonic CD is very much a game in the classic Sonic vein. As Sonic, you run, spin, and jump around colorful, themed areas; you collect rings, smash enemies, and interact with varied environmental gimmicks. Whereas Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 favored more open stages with lots of speed-boosting contraptions, Sonic CD's stages reflect the more cluttered feel of the original game, with elaborately designed backgrounds and decorations littering the landscape. It's incredibly difficult to simply speed directly through a level in Sonic CD because various traps, enemies, and deviously placed obstacles can send a careless hedgehog reeling.
If you've never played a massively multiplayer online game before, DC Universe Online is a good place to start. This isn't just because of the DC Comics license, though that might be what first draws you to this light and breezy take on the genre. After all, this is your chance to take to the skies above Metropolis like Superman or skulk in Gotham City's shadows like Batman himself. But it's the way DCUO mixes action-game sensibilities with traditional role-playing progression that makes it immediately enjoyable. If you're a seasoned role-player you'll find it refreshing as well--but only to a point. The speedy level progression and focus on all combat, all the time might prove tedious if you're someone who enjoys exploring new worlds for the thrill of mystery and discovery. The largely instanced, repeatable endgame content is fun, but it's not inviting enough to make it worth paying a monthly fee for it. But even if it doesn't provide enough new content to sustain you beyond a couple of weeks, DC Universe Online is generally entertaining, and comic book fans will be happy that the license was handled with care.
It's hard not to compare DC Universe Online to the comic-inspired games for PC that came before it: City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Champions Online. If you've played one of them, you might be disappointed that at least initially, DC Universe Online doesn't offer the cosmetic flexibility for which those other superhero-themed games are so well known. That isn't to say that the character creation isn't robust, though you might have your imagination somewhat stifled. Of course, DC Universe Online instantly stands out by having heroes and villains alike share the same world. Once you tailor your creation to your liking, you select a weapon (if you want to play with other weapons, don't despair; your options expand later); choose a basic power set (gadgets, ice, fire, and so on); and choose one of three available mentors, such as Lex Luthor if you're a villain, or Wonder Woman, if you're a hero.
Fortunately, if you are disappointed by the initial creation options, you aren't stuck with this vision of your hero or villain forever. You earn and buy new gear as you play, but equipping a new cape doesn't mean you have to change your physical appearance. You can equip that cape for its improved stats without removing your demonic wings if they're more consistent with your overall look. In your main headquarters (the Hall of Doom for villains; the Justice League of America Watchtower for heroes), you can purchase additional cosmetic items, and when you hit on a look you really like, you can lock the entire costume--or just individual aspects of it.
Trine 2's environments could have been lifted off the screen of a latter-dayFantasia or from the pages of a particularly lovely storybook. They pop with lively, luminous color, and rich details that give this 2D platformer great environmental depth. The forest is home to luscious glowing foliage and glistening colossal snails. Gloomier levels house giant spiders, animated with skin-crawling authenticity. One picturesque level--sunset on a tropical beach--could have been a gaudy, but is instead stop-and-stare beautiful.
Each hero has a simple, distinct set of powers. The knight has a sword and shield for fighting, as well as a warhammer for smashing obstacles; the thief has a grappling hook, along with a bow and arrow; and the wizard can levitate items and summon boxes or planks from thin air. In single-player mode, only one hero appears onscreen, but you can instantly flip between them to access the powers demanded by the task at hand.
The wizard's conjuring powers make him the best suited for solving a puzzle on your own. Though the basic platforming is smooth and accessible, with combat that is brisk and straightforward, the heart of the action is physics-based puzzling. At its simplest, this means you construct a ramp from crates, while more complex challenges have you reroute steam jets by hovering segments of pipe into place. In others, you channel water onto the roots of plants that shoot up, magic beanstalklike, to create leafy new platforms on which to hop. New elements such as movable portals, waterwheels, and lava streams come thick and fast, in addition to memorable one-offs, such as a house-sized frog that lassoes giant fruit with its tongue.
No knowledge of earlier Saints Row games is needed to jump into the insanity of The Third. Following an incredible opening sequence that involves the kind of bank heist that only the Saints can pull off, the gang is transplanted from their hometown of Stilwater to the city of Steelport. As their leader, it's up to you to lead them from upstart newcomers to rulers of the town, which means frequently coming into conflict with the local gangs, the masked Luchadores, stylish Morningstars, and Tron-inspired Deckers. Along the way, you meet some great new characters, like Oleg, a strongman so huge, he can only ride in the bed of pickup trucks and who defies expectations by being learned and philosophical. And at key moments, the action is energized by fitting uses of music; the pounding rhythms of Kanye West's "Power" make a great early set piece even more exciting, for instance, and a fun sing-along between your character and another creates feelings of warmth and camaraderie among the Saints. Occasionally, the game's "anything goes" tone goes a little too far--a mission that uses human trafficking of sex workers as a plot point to support its cartoonish mayhem is one example--but the story typically succeeds at being absurd, goofy fun.
If you choose, you can make it all the more absurd by creating a character who speaks in zombie grunts or wears an animal mascot suit (when he opts to wear anything at all). The number of character customization options is impressive, and there are no restrictions on what elements you combine. If you wish to create a blonde bombshell with a beard or a mean-looking man who sounds like a woman from Eastern Europe, you can. Seeing a man in a sexy cowgirl outfit or a woman wearing a giant Johnny Gat head in cutscenes in which everyone treats him or her as a respected gang boss is hilarious. And if you get bored with your character's current appearance, voice, or outfit, plastic surgery and clothing from the varied boutiques of Steelport cost a pittance, so you can reinvent yourself as often as you please.
There's an unusual disparity at the start of the game, but it's one that actually works rather well. The game fluctuates between gaudy '60s quiz-show dressing and moody crimes scenes, with both settings offering puzzles to solve. The quiz show is laid out neatly; you have to solve 12 puzzles that are divided into three score brackets and achieve a target score. It's a good idea and allows you to choose which brainteasers you solve to progress, meaning (at least in some parts of the game) you're never going to be stuck on one specific conundrum.
The main downside here is that there isn't much puzzle variation. Usually, each type of puzzle appears multiple times, and although there's justification for this later in the game, some more variety would have been nice. There are numerous puzzles where you have to navigate a 3D maze, puzzles where you have to drop coins into the correct slots, lock-picking puzzles, sequential puzzles, and the occasional clever one-off brainteaser.
Most of the puzzle types are a lot of fun and make decent use of the 3DS tech. This extends to the game overall, with such neat touches as seeing yourself reflected in mirrors or having to rotate a 3D object to get the correct perspective. Some challenges also make use of the tilt sensor and have you rotate your 3DS to slide a block around a maze. To compensate for the fact that you have to move the handheld around, the 3D itself is sparse and nonintrusive, which adds a small amount of depth to the visuals without ever really straying much into full 3D territory. It's a good example of knowing when less is more.
The most unusual aspect of James Noir is the fact that it uses full-motion video for the characters. Presenter Glen Darnby sits at his desk, played by a real actor, and vibrates in a sinister manner. Host Monique shudders on the spot, pirouetting to display your score. There are about three frames to signify speech, with each character's mouth flapping open and closed like a creepy marionette. Rather than just looking cheap, it adds an air of foreboding to the game, whether it was intentional or not. Characters are barely fleshed out, although the script makes a few halfhearted attempts at providing backstory, but this rarely extends beyond "Glen Darnby is an alcoholic."
The presentation is interesting, too. Chapter dividers take the form of typical noir-genre advertising that is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler book covers. The quiz show takes place on a tacky set, complete with a faceless, shadowy audience. Annoying jingles play out as Darnby reels off catchphrases and you solve puzzle after puzzle. This is then offset by the few crime scenes that offer brief glimpses at a darker Hollywood underbelly. The game spends very little time exploring this, and some fleshing out would have been extremely welcome, although certain things come into play later, which would be a shame to ruin. It's a bit silly at times, and occasionally, there are some fairly glaring typographical errors in the text, but there's a certain charm to James Noir that is impossible to ignore.
The first, and most substantial, inclusion is Tekken Tag Tournament HD. This rerelease of a PlayStation 2 favorite slaps on a high-resolution texture update and calls it a day. For better or worse, nothing else has changed. The classic gameplay is still intact and holds up surprisingly well after 11 years. Naturally, some characters lack the tricks their modern versions have, but it's still interesting to see your favorite fighters' early years and appreciate what they have gained (or lost) since. You can duke it out in Arcade, Survival, or Time Trial mode, but the most unique is still Tekken Bowl.
This goofy minigame takes the fighters out of the ring and into a bowling alley. Instead of throwing punches, Tag's stylish scrappers throw crystal bowling balls into golden pins molded to the likeness of Heihachi Mishima. Each character has his or her own bowling style, which is reflected in the behavior of the power meters.
However, even with a new coat of paint, the game's visuals haven't aged well. The character models shine with a waxy, inhuman sheen and seem to be lit by a static spotlight pointed right on top of them. There's also a recurring graphical issue from the original that persists here. It has to do with the way the arena is rendered against the background. To give the illusion of distance, the foreground area rotates at a faster rate than the background. You can see this split between the two occur, which makes it look as if you fighting on a dirt-colored disk.
Compared to the improvements seen in Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition--which had online support and additional practice modes--Tag HD is a disappointment. Online support of any kind is absent, as are any additional modes or content. It's a shallow release and is not the sort of treatment this great game deserves. And as Tekken Hybrid's anchor, its bare-bones delivery doesn't bode well for the rest of the package.
The structure in Mario Kart 7 has remained unchanged from its many predecessors. Grand Prix races in 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc difficulties are available from the beginning, and you unlock mirror variants if you prove your worth in the initial offering. There are 32 tracks split evenly between new creations and returning favorites, with the retro versions revised to incorporate the new features introduced in this latest iteration. If you found yourself breezing through the single-player activities in previous games, then you should be glad to find a ramped-up difficulty in Mario Kart 7. Computer drivers are merciless in both their item usage and driving tactics, smartly taking tricky shortcuts or blocking your attempts to land shells on their noggins, which forces you to up your own skill if you're going to come out on top. The rubber banding that previously snatched victory from you at the last second has been drastically toned down in Mario Kart 7, so you finally feel as if you're in control of your own destiny. There is still one strange quirk, though: Your time is no longer recorded so you won't know just how narrowly you won (or lost).
A handful of new additions help separate Mario Kart 7 from its forebears. Kart customization gives you an opportunity to tinker with parts before each race. Whichever chassis, tires, and hang glider you choose affects your attributes, and it takes a bit of experimentation and inventiveness to decide which combination is best for you. You gain access to new gear by collecting coins sprinkled liberally around each track, though the coins have more than one purpose. In a call back to Super Mario Kart, the more coins you're carrying, the faster your driver's top speed, which adds more strategy in how you handle turns. Do you go slightly out of your way for a couple of extra coins? Do you risk falling in a pit? It's a smart addition that makes you keep your eyes peeled for flashes of golden yellow, giving you even more to think about while you're navigating hairpin turns and avoiding deadly shells.
Although some of those those elements have appeared in previous games in some form or another, the hang glider is new. When you leap off a blue launchpad, your kart automatically sprouts magnificent wings until you touch back down. At first, this seems like a shallow gimmick, but after you experiment with what you're capable of once airborne, you realize just how much potential this new ability grants you. Once again, quick decision making is important. You can avoid the chaos happening below you if you stay safely in the clouds, and there are coins to collect as well. In some courses, tricky shortcuts are even available for those who have a daredevil's mentality. But other times, you may want to land as quickly as possible. Maybe there are item boxes below or boost pads, so hanging in the air is ultimately hurting your chance at victory.
Whether you play one of the campaigns, a one-off game, or a multiplayer match, you must choose from one of the five factions. Each faction has a different town in which it can construct unique buildings and recruit seven faction-specific creature types. The medieval Haven, hellish Inferno, and ghoulish Necropolis factions will be instantly familiar to veterans of the series, as might the snarling Stronghold faction introduced in Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East. The Sanctuary faction, on the other hand, is entirely new and makes a great addition to the existing roster. The blue and green temples of a Sanctuary town feature the curved eaves of Japanese pagodas and sit atop flowing waterfalls. The creatures also draw on Eastern inspiration, including slithering, four-armed samurais (kenseis) and ethereal, kimono-clad water spirits (snow maidens).
Regardless of which faction you choose, the creatures are all richly detailed and appealing. Some examples include the hulking, skull-fisted jaguar warriors (Stronghold); the floating, feminine radiant glory (Haven); the corpulent, spike-limbed breeder (Inferno); and the desiccated, sphinxian lamasu (Necropolis). The creatures and buildings of a given faction share a strong artistic theme, creating a great sense of cohesion among the ranks and a strong visual opposition between rivals. This artistry also extends to neutral creatures, buildings, and environmental elements that litter each map. The lush forests of Sanctuary regions, the cavernous Inferno depths, and the gloomy plains of Necropolis territory all offer new visual treats for the intrepid explorer.
Into these realms you go, guiding one or more heroes down pathways littered with free-standing creatures, resources, artifacts, and buildings. Though there are only four types of resources (wood, coal, crystal, gold), the variety of artifacts and buildings continues to provide new sights, even hours into the game. Buildings can offer temporary or permanent attribute boosts for your hero, resource-producing mines, challenging arena fights, and a glimpse of distant lands, to name a few. These places can be visited by any hero, and mines can be claimed by a faction. However, rather than simply walking in and flagging a mine as you could previously, you must now control the surrounding area, which requires capturing the town or the fort that controls the region. Defending regions rather than individual mines is a much more logical and viable strategy, though your enemies can still disrupt your production by occupying or sabotaging your mines.
It's winter in Gotham City, but the streets of the part of town now known as Arkham seem particularly cold. Snow falls on the criminals who roam this place, making the asphalt shimmer with reflections of the neon signs advertising shuttered shops that once upon a time bustled with business. Gotham faced a prison crisis in the wake of the events of Arkham Asylum, and certain unscrupulous characters took advantage of the situation by acquiring the run-down neighborhood of North Gotham, walling it off from the rest of the city, and tossing the criminals in there to fend for themselves. It's an inhumane and immoral operation; food and warmth are scarce, and some inmates are people whose only crime was voicing a negative opinion of Arkham City and those who run it.
But their misfortune is your gain. The area of several city blocks that makes up the superprison isn't especially vast as open worlds go, but what it lacks in scale, it more than makes up for in atmospheric detail. Arkham City is home to an old courthouse, a former police headquarters, a musty museum, a disused subway terminal, and other fascinating places. These structures, with their faded portraits, old billboards, and plentiful other features, convey a sense of history. The exceptional art design draws on 1930s art deco and makes Gotham seem like a once elegant and shining city that has fallen into darkness. It's clearly a work of imagination, but as you explore it, its richness pulls you in, and it becomes a world you can't help but believe in. That allure is particularly strong on the PC, where atmospheric details like snowflakes visibly landing on Batman's cape make this wintry, downtrodden environment even more convincing.
Batman has no choice but to explore the alleyways and underground tunnels of North Gotham. Within the prison's walls, Joker is dying, and the villain's schemes force the Dark Knight to help him find a cure. That quest brings Batman into contact with the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and numerous other members of Batman's rogues' gallery. Each character is represented terrifically, with plenty of nods to their histories as established in the comics, and part of the fun of progressing through the story lies in seeing what character might make an appearance next. The excellent Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their roles as Batman and the Joker, heading up an ensemble of voice actors who never miss a beat.
