Halo 4

This week's game review is that of Halo 4!

Halo 4 is the next game in the series featuring John-117, or the Master Chief. This game is developed by 343 Industries, the new developers of the Halo series.

The game is set 4 years after the events of Halo 3, set mainly of Requiem , the recently discovered Forerunner Shield World. 343 Industries has you fight new enemy types, known as Prometheans, a group of "advanced defense AIs" There are only three types of Promethean, but they are formidable enough when you fight them.

The campaign, while short, is enjoyable enough. for any average gamer, the campaign will take 5-10 hours on Normal difficulty. To find the collectibles and gather achievements on each mission will have you replaying the game several times. The story is coherent enough though one of the later missions really felt like a half hour filler.

The chief also teams up with Spartan IVs in the campaign, which was nearly a game breaker for me, as the Chief is meant to be "The Last Spartan" and a "Lone Wolf". However, the missions were varied enough, I actually needed the spartan's help.

The scenery is full of intricate detail and looks wonderful throughout the whole game. The soundtrack wasn't by the usual composers of the Halo series, but it sounds great. 343 Also seemed to have some trouble with the strength of the opponents in Normal difficulty, something I hope to see fixed in the future.

The Multiplayer has been given some time and thought, however. It has been separated into two categories  Spartan Ops and War Games, and it has been given a proper backstory for the first time in Halo's history. Spartan Ops is an expansion of the Campaign, however, you play as a Spartan IV rather than the Master Chief. War Games is the new name for competitive multiplayer, and contains all of the best gametypes from past installments, though I was unhappy to see some of the old game types not reappear in this sequel.

Altogether, I enjoyed this game and I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. The Multiplayer still has a few bugs and the game is a little too difficult, with ammo few and far between, but the game is a must for any old halo fans.

Finally, Here is my NaNoWriMo widget:

Super Assassin's Creed III Review Post

Hello everyone!

As many or most of you guys know, Assassin's Creed III was released over the last week around the world. With Halo 4 a few days away, I really wanted to get this review out of the way.

I have been playing the single player for maybe 5 hours focusing mainly on the missions, and I'm about 50% through the game. However, I've taken a liking to the new weapons, such as the Rope Dart and the Tomahawk.

Add to this a solid story line with at least one extremely unexpected twist, and you have yourself a reasonable game. To fill it with a vast array of characters from the American Civil War, and the great voice acting just push this game a little further.

Conner also has new skills (moving assassinations, hunting) as well as losing old ones (Ezio's way with the ladies). These new mechanics, when brought into battle make for an interesting advancement from the previous games.

The multiplayer is also strong, however, the multiplayer story line isn't as prominent as in previous releases. There are two new gametypes, Wolfpack and Domination. While I haven't played the latter, Wolfpack is a nice addition to the previous gametypes of the series.

I must admit, when the game was first announced, I wasn't much of a fan, but as more details have been released over time, I have found myself wanting to buy, wanting to play. I am glad I did. I give this game 4 stars out of 5, as there are still a few bugs that needed to be fleshed out before the release of the game.

Finally, just before the australian release of Assassin's Creed III, Smosh released a song titled "The Ultimate Assassin's Creed III Song" Have a listen to it!

For those who are interested, you can keep up with my NaNoWriMo progress by watching this image here: 

This image will be at the bottom of every blog post made by myself this month! Stuart out!

Returning to the Roots

Hello again! It's game day Friday and a lot has happened since I last typed!

All across the globe, Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 versions have been released in the last week. Due to the incredibly unimaginative titles, I originally didn't intend to buy a copy, however, as a last minute change of mind, I bought Black 2 version on the release date. My local EBGames also sold me the limited edition for regular price because not enough people preordered. Anyway, I recieved a nice little Black Kyurem coin for my troubles.

I haven't made much progress into the games, but the sequels to the original pair do contain original characters, along with flashback missions and a load of bonus features. So far, I am enjoying what I am playing immensely and my 3DS is getting a nice workout after a few months of inactivity.

Anyway, as the newest in a franchise I have so closely followed for nearly 10 years, I am extremely satisfied with the amount of content in the games. What I am dissatisfied with is the lack of good new Pokémon from this generation. They're all rubbish... Example ->

While it's been nice to fill you in on gaming details for the last few weeks, but coming soon is an irregular post on Tuesdays for book rants/reviews... I am close to finishing one book and about halfway through a second, while I also have a third ready to blabber on about. Finally, I have two more sitting on my table waiting to be started. So I should get that up and running soon.

Finally, the next big releases I'm looking forward to are Assassin's Creed III on October 31 and Halo 4 (which I preordered) on November 6! Until then, there won't be too much news about new games that I have, but I still have games that I can talk about which I am currently playing such as Portal 2, Skyrim, etc. There won't be any lack in gaming posts, just the book posts will be all over the place.

Friday Nights are for Gaming

Hello everyone! I'm here with more gaming news (I'll mix it up soon, I promise)

I finished Halo 3: ODST (or rather, watched my sister finish for me) finally! This is a very interesting take on the halo franchise, where instead of playing as a legendary Spartan, you play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). This game is a semi detective game, in which you wake up 6 hours after drop and must roam the city of new Mombasa to find clues to the rest of your squad's whereabouts. Finding a clue triggers a flashback mission where you play as a squadmate until you eventually link up with your squad and complete your main objective.

This game holds a strong campaign, but the multiplayer is just Halo 3's whacked on a second disk. Props to Bungee for an interesting side game, but they could have worked on it a little more. 7/10  (9/10 for campaign, 5/10 for multiplayer)

I picked up Assassin's Creed: Revelations at EBGames for around $35, on an impulse. I was never going to play this game after the bad reviews I've heard from my friends and the internet, but I felt compelled to complete Ezio's story before starting Assassin's Creed III.

As a strange fan of the series, who never really liked Altair, the segments which you have to play as him don't phase me too much, just so long as it doesn't effect Ezio in any way, which it doesn't apart from learning crucial information about the Apple of Eden.

The multiplayer is tougher than I expected, with no sepperation between ranks, which pulls the overall experience down, but this has to be the second game I've played where the multiplayer is fleshed out properly (the first being Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood), given a story. It's relatively easy to find a game on Xbox, though I have heard it can take up to two hours on PC.

Anyway, I'm satisfied with my recent gaming ventures, and I will hopefully be able to bring you something new soon!

Friday Fun

Hello everyone!

I went shopping yesterday for 3 hours. You know what happens when I'm in a shopping centre for so long? I convince myself to buy something.

This time, I bought Alice: Madness Returns. It's a twisted game, showing Alice's story from a more mature perspective. I haven't started playing yet (I was too scared last night when I got home) but I've seen a couple videos on YouTube of this game.

You play as Alice, a psychopath, as you travel through wonderland, murdering all your favourite characters! Why? Her house is burnt down and her family is killed. Alice loses it and Wonderland is twisted by her broken mind. She must find a way to fix it... Or something like that.

When I bought the game, I found out that it comes with a free copy of it's prequel, American McGee's Alice. This is to provide backstory to the second game, though I'm not sure its necessary. I think it's just a free bonus!

However, I bought the game preowned, so I may not be able to retrieve my free copy of the Alice. I'm going to try anyway, so I'll probably let you know in the next post.

This video is the launch trailer for Alice: Madness Returns, just to show you a bit of what it's about better than I can explain it!

We Are Live From Blogger

Hello once again!

We have returned to blogger in an attempt to mix things up! the perfect day for it too!
As many of you (don't) know, I recently bought an Xbox 360 and I'm slowly expanding my gaming collection. Well, today I bought Halo 3, preordered Halo 4 and bought a 3 month subscription to Xbox Live!

Anyway, We'll be covering a variety of Things here, including gaming, reading, music and movies! I'll be covering most of the gaming side of things, with posts all about the games I pick up and play, whether I like them or not! Also, you will be able to find me online as I play though different games such as Halo, Portal 2's Co-Op campaign, etc.

Not only did I preorder Halo 4, I got the limited edition and it came with a sexy poster which is flattening on my bedroom floor. When that comes out, it'll be around $90 more for me, but I can afford it so I'm quite happy to pay for a bunch of extra stuff.

Seeing as I did go out and spend money on Xbox Live, I redeemed my 3 moths straight away and started playing online. I think I got a rough 2 hours of online play earlier. Anyway, if you wish to play with me (and lose) you'll find me as CorruptedCheese. If you wish to play against me (better idea), fair enough, I won't judge you. I will, however, scream at you through the television. Good thing I don't have a mic.

Anyway, I have been a fan of the Halo series since early on and I have played every game, so I think it's fair to say I know what I'm talking about when I judge the games. To be completely honest, while some reviews have said Halo Reach was too short, I quite liked it as a game and the missions were long enough (about 30 minutes each). The plot was predictable, but that's because you already know that Reach will be destroyed at the end of the game. The ending is quite sad, but the game is pretty nice and tidy. 8/10

Halo 3, it has to be one of me least favourite of the Halo games. The campaign is short (6 hours) but it's about as lengthy as Reach and Halo 1 or 2. The creepy flood infecting the deceased is quite creepy and it scares me every time I see it happen. For this simple thing (should have been there from day 1), I give this game 6/10.

Hopefully Halo 4, under the development of a subdivision of Bungee names 343 Industries, a group focusing solely on the development of Halo games, can live up to its predecessors and surpass some of them. I'm looking forward to playing it with a release date of November 6, I'm really looking forward to this one.

Finally, here is a video I found on YouTube, (It is pretty old) but, enjoy!

Also, Carrie, I hope you don't mind that I made the first post?