Over 3 million copies fo this game have been sold to date, with the scheduled release still two weeks away. And, as is often the case with these blockbuster games, the tie ins will drain gamers’ wallets as well; everything from a 6 part comic book series based on the ‘Ghost’ character to the download-able maps available initially through Xbox online. Headsets, statues, and the $59.99 price tag; to enjoy the ‘full’ experience will set you back considerably.

So the question becomes… Is it worth it? Hard to tell until the actual release, but the indications are good. The franchise name is nearly without fail; it is to first person shooters what Final Fantasy is to RPGs and Madden is to Football games. It hasn’t let gamers down to date, and shows no indication of doing so.

If there is one risk, it is that of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, which have recently hit a creative wall; people are beginning to realize that there is only so much you can do with that particular format. It may be new songs, but it’s still the same old Guitar Hero.

The main difference here is that unlike the Guitar games, the Call of Duty games are carried as much by their intricate story lines as by the in depth game play, which has continued to evolve with each chapter. This time appears to be no different. Here is a sampling:

All initial appearances are that this will be one of those rare games that actually live up to the hype. We’ll keep our fingers crossed…

your minions themselves come in four varieties. Browns are your starter set of melee fighters and the ones you will use the most. They can pick up items to dress themselves up in comical ways. Red minions are your archers, flinging fireballs at enemies while dying quickly if attacked. Green minions are your ninjas and assassins, turning invisible at guard markers to do sneak attacks. And your blue minions are your healers who resurrect dead minions and have almost no fighting ability themselves. Each of the unlockable minion classes also have a special ability to help you get past obstacles such as fire, poison, and water.

The minions are your main tools and weapons. You can go in and hack and slash enemies, but you will die very quickly. Your role is a general who sits in the back, points your finger, and watches as others do your fighting for you. You can use magic to support your loyal servants, but you don’t have an unlimited supply, and the best spell in the game just powers up your minions so they can fight even harder for you while you watch from the back. Minions carry things for you, fight for you, clear obstacles for you, and sacrifice themselves for you to heal yourself or power up your weapons. If you don’t mind that kind of thing, then enjoy, if not then you will start to feel less like an overlord of evil trying to conquer the world, and more like a glorified dog walker.

The real selling point of this game is the comedy. Overlord does not take itself seriously, and instead uses clever humor that will make you chuckle in spite of yourself. The minions are so crazy that they are cute despite being evil monsters, and the characters you meet in the story are bizarre and over the top. The villains, who used to be heroes ironically, are all examples of deadly sins corrupting “good” people, so it isn’t so much a game of an evil overlord conquering a good world as it is one bad guy killing off the competition on his way to world domination.

Perhaps the main problem with the game is that the world you are trying to conquer is rather small and not all that interesting. It feels more like you are just taking over a neighborhood than an empire, and your subjects are so stupid that you would have a more interesting time slaughtering them all rather than ruling them. The game does have a moral choice gimmick between being totally evil or just a little evil depending on how you play. Perhaps my favorite thing about the game is that you can choose between two mistresses. The prim and proper Rose, or her dark, sexy and sadistic sister Velvet. The woman you choose affects the ending you get, and your decorating choices for your tower. But the decorations themselves are just something to spend your gold on.

In all, overlord is a guilty pleasure kind of game that is good for a laugh as long as you aren’t taking it too seriously. If you’re into games that are both silly and fun, than go ahead and give it a try.

Overlord 2

Overlord two has you taking control of the old overlord’s son after the minions find him hidden away in a little village. They help him deal with some bullies and cause some mayhem. Shortly afterwards you are all grown up and ready to take over the world. In many ways it treads over the same ground of the first game, gathering all the hives again along with health, manna, and minion power ups while conquering towns along the way. There are several differences however, such as the ability to occupy the town with minions while the towns produce resources for you, or you can simply destroy the place. You also get mounts for you minions which increase their effectiveness. As the overlord, you get some new spells to use, and the ability to captain a boat.

The enemies also get some upgrades. You fight against a Roman-like empire, and they form phalanxes which force you to use different strategies when fighting them. There are also a few new gamplay elements such as taking direct control of a minion to see things through their eyes which was very interesting. Sadly, as in the first game, the world itself seems small and two dimensional despite its vibrant colors. The civilians still come off as pitiful idiots that should be put down for their own good, and the overlord still feels like a glorified dog walker. On the bright side, you now get three beautiful women as your mistresses.

If you liked overlord, then chances are you’ll like overlord 2, but I believe the first game is superior in the delivery oh its humor, and its villain designs. The main flaw in both games is that it’s no fun being bad if you have permission to do so, and you’re fighting against people who are more evil than you are.

This is a really fun game.  It starts with a guy who wakes up in the crater of a bomb set off by terrorists.  The bomb devestated the city and famine and sickness spread through it.  The city itself was quarentined and no one is allowed to leave, most police have given up, and gangs roam the streets.  Sounds a bit like Escape From New York, I know.  But, your character wakes up and he has super powers, he can control electricity, and that’s where the fun comes in

This game is quite similar to Grand Theft Auto in that it is free roaming, with 3 different unlockable islands.  Each one is filled with various missions, both good, evil, and neutral.  The best part about this game is you can be an Anti-Hero or a Hero.  You can help people then kill them when they’ve shown you their stash of of battery cores and rob them.  There are some missions that are repetitive and constant throughout the game, some examples of these are the Satelite Uplink missions where you have to get from one search light to the next to set up satelites.  It’s really annoying because you will most always fail for the first few attempts until you get the route down.  There are also missions to take surveilance devices off of buildings, where you just jump around a building like spider man and zap little glowing boxes.  Nothing too special.  But there are a lot of missions that make you forget about the optional side missions.  You can destroy Flatbed Semi-Trucks with machine gun turrets mounted on them.  You can kill people that have stolen drugs from a clinic, poison the water supply of the entire town, cause devastation to get the police’s attention then destroy their unit. 

The gameplay is very open ended and the progression that takes place is awesome.  You start out with weak powers as in any other game, and as you get more good or evil you unlock more powers specifically geared towards good or evil characters.  That aspect sound similar to Fable.  The more evil deeds you do the more bloodstained your character becomes, and more villainish.  The more you help people the more awesome he looks too.  You gain experience to buy new upgrades from the missions, and also from killing baddies.  There are gangs that control areas of the town that are always trying to kill you, so there’s no shortage of baddies. 

****SPOILER ALERT???*****

The story line is pretty insane and ridiculous.  I haven’t paid attention half the time and have just been enjoying the gameplay, kind of like Grand Theft Auto.  As far as I can gather, the main character (whose job before the disaster was a courier) was carrying an object that stole the energy of everyone and thing around the object and transfered it into a single person.  That single person is the main character and he has to save a woman outside of the quarantine’s husband to get his freedom, and that of his friends. 

All and All I’m having a blast still playing it, it’s pretty mindless at first and by the end you may get a bit frustrated with some of the missions and enemies, but it’s well worth it

Final Score:

9 out 10

I give it an 8.5 out of 10

Image Via Google Images

It has a babe of a lead role that dual wields handguns that never run out of bullets.  She also has a sword, dual shotguns, dual sub machine guns, and the ability to slow down time when she slides on her knees or jumps through the air.  When blood gets splattered on her she goes into a blood craze and kills more people even faster.

The game mixes some aspects of Prince of Persia, Mercenaries, Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Devil May Cry.  And while the game gets a little repetitive in its level format, it’s always fun to try and figure out how you kill the next boss, or trying to stab some dude with a gatling gun in the testicles with a sword.  This is one of the most violent games I’ve ever played, and I LOVE the unlimited never stopping ammo.  It really feels like an action movie and it’s fun to watch too.

It’s made by Bethesda, the same company that made you the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 which was incredible, as was Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion, but both of those are more Action RPGs and both are more geared towards the computer gaming industry.  It’s awesome to see a company responsible for two great Computer RPG series delving in the PS3 to make an awesome action game.  At the end of each level you get the chance to upgrade your weapons, and your skills to make your Wet woman into a beast!

I have no clue what the story to this game is.  I missed the first scene and then next thing I know she’s killed peoples mothers and brothers, and she gets tortured in a bath, and you have to fight at least 10 people with gatling guns.  This game’s definitely geared towards males, but it’s a lot of fun to play around in slow mo, you can actually target 2 enemies at the same time and kill them both, and you just get double points.  There’s Prince of Persia style wall running, climbing, and some of the button codes for beating bosses.  It’s obnoxious, and vulgar, and violent, and I’ll most certainly call this game WET.  It is not a fine mist by any means, nor a drizzle, but very enjoyable so everyone get Wet!

However, I am very pleased to report that my expectations were entirely wrong: “Batman: Arkham Asylum” is one of the best games I’ve played. The story, which to be fair is standard Bat-fare, is interesting and well-paced, covering some novel ground. The hand-to-hand combat is exhilarating, and though it’s possible to slog through by simply mashing buttons at random, the game rewards you for a more minimal, accurate approach. However it’s the stealth segments that really surprised me. I’d not played a stealth-based game before and was more than a little dubious, but there’s a great thrill when carefully picking off assorted goons from the shadows and watching their moods change from calm to terrified (having a few go crazy through fear is a nice touch) as their friends are bumped off! It even persuaded me to play through the challenge levels, trying out despatching them in different ways, while the nifty AI ensures that the hostiles never act the same way twice allowing for plenty of fun variation. Playing through the story mode, there’s plenty more variation to break up the action: from fiendishly tricky puzzles and a whole 240 riddles and things to find on the request of the Riddler, to boss battles and platform-like levels facing the Scarecrow in some spooky-looking dream sequences. Admittedly most of the boss battles are a bit weak, involving various different things to dodge and throw things at, but they break up the action nicely.

But that’s not all. Thanks to some beautiful designs, creepy locations (more than one reviewer has compared the use of atmosphere and setting to “Bioshock”) and exquisite vocals, it’s atmospheric and enticing; I refused to leave any area without searching it top to bottom or hanging around to catch every last bit of dialogue. I’ve long been a fan of Hamil, Conroy and Sorkin and they don’t disappoint. Hamil in particular, chewing up scenery as the Joker, is absolutely magnificent: he’s funny, he’s scary, and, since he spends most of the game yammering away over the loudspeakers, he’s a constant malignant presence; gloating, cruel and anarchic. Even dying becomes a bit of a treat as we get some fun little sequences of the villains gloating, and no matter how many times I see Joker blow a raspberry and fall over backwards, it never gets old. The rest of the cast are similarly fun, I was particularly struck by Wally Wingert as the Riddler, keeping just the right balance between sinister and smug (and seriously, when has the Riddler ever been seemed this much like a serious threat?).  

Some of the character designs are less impressive than others: Scarecrow is clearly inspired by “Batman Begins” and Harley Quinn’s “sexy” new look (was the skin-tight catsuit not sexy?) just seems impractical. How on earth can she do gymnastics in a leather corset and platform thigh-high boots? Why ditch the cute jester hat for pigtails when hair is one of the few things badly animated? And more importantly, why do women in games HAVE to have their boobs on show? I mean, feminist ranting aside, there’s no need for Harley to be scantily clad. Poison Ivy’s lack of clothing is vaguely understandable, she’s a seductress afterall, but Harley? Has the Joker suddenly acquired a libido from somewhere? Because if he has he does a remarkable job of hiding it. The fact that she’s wearing a shirt with somebody else’s badge pinned to it suggests she’s been using that to gain access around Arkham, but that still doesn’t explain where she found the leather and fishnets. Somebody call the Dark Knight Dectective, we have a mystery on our hands!

There are other minor flaws too. Not being able to access certain things without the right gizmo meant I wasted hours running around in circles trying to get at them. The boss battles, as already mentioned, are irritatingly ordinary. There are also sequences that just don’t make sense, particularly those involving Scarecrow. Batman clearly knows all the villains beforehand, so why does he not notice the effects of the fear gas? Why wonder around in amazement falling for every illusion in front of him? He could at least say “this sensation is familiar” or something! Most of the time Batman would acknowledge that he was walking into a trap, but apparently the fear gas causes memory loss. Actually, the Scarecrow levels annoyed me. Not just because of Batman’s memory lapses, or because of Scarecrow’s irritating laugh, but because several times I had to wait for hints when I died before I knew how to continue but thankfully these sections were short enough not to be too much of an annoyance. The lip-synching could use some work too, and hair tends to look like it’s had enough spray put through it to keep a New Romantic band supplied for a year, but again, these are minor foibles.

There’s plenty of fun to distract from such irritations, especially if, like me, you’re a fan of the comics. Finding certain things unlocks character biographies which cover everyone from Batman himself to obscure villains like Calendar Man, Prometheus and Maxie Zeus. Plus there are a series of wonderful “patient interviews” to be found, brilliantly performed dialogues between the crazies and their doctors, adding a few new narratives to the game (and the Harley Quinn ones are taken directly from the “Mad Love” graphic novel, to my delight). If that wasn’t enough there’s one last creepy mystery involving the “spirit” of the asylum’s founder, which reminded me a little of the seminal graphic novel also entitled “Arkham Asylum”. If you’re not an avid Bat-fan you may find some of the riddles a little obscure, but if you are you’ll be smirking with glee with every lovingly recreated cell.

So, despite a few little problems that can start to grate after a while, this is a really enjoyable game. It’s full of nice little details, clever gameplay and even cleverer performances. It really is a must for anyone who likes Batman and for anyone who likes exploring well-crafted environments… and for anyone who likes stealth games, or action games or… hell, it’s a must for pretty much anybody!

The 3D experience makes Final Destination terrible real and every time nails and scissors reach out for you pointed end first, you feel like you are part of the action going on in which is as expected of 3D. There is no denial in the fact that the gore levels have been escalated and the 3D experience accentuates that to deliver one helluva adrenaline rush throughout the film. Impressive, you might say, but the story has some drawbacks. Four films on and the director of Final Destination 4, David R. Ellis, hasn’t come up with a different take on ‘death chasing the survivors’. The closest we came to something different was in Final Destination 2 when birth could neutralise the effect of ‘death’s quest’ to hunt the survivors down. But Final Destination has nothing really excitable in it. Slight changes are that this time, there is a premonition before every death of a survivor linked to the objects in the place of death.

Even though there are some basic flaws and a lot of the audience are starting to find the repetition annoying, this film is actually pretty tantalising in terms that the director has made multiple scenes where you are panic and fear struck, but then he relieves it because it turns out to be a premonition or nothing happens. The excitement of the thriller is palpable especially in the 3D cinema halls. Great acting from all of the actors but the characters of the supporting characters or the other survivors has been built a lot more than those of the main actors. Another really brilliant aspect of this film is the use of impeccable graphics. A lot of the 3D premonition and action is clearly graphics but this doesn’t ruin the fun. Instead it just makes you appreciate the work gone into creating those brilliant graphics. The iconic last scene where the deaths of the last three survivors aren’t shown is taken into an X ray type graphic image where you can see their bodies disintegrate. Some bold gore and praiseworthy graphics are pretty much the gist of this film.

For those who are thriller junkies, this is probably a good film although I completely enjoyed it even though it left me shaken after I left the cinema hall. With one major flaw in the story line, there is a slight difference in terms of the 3D and other little bits and pieces twitched in the original story line. Great film but clearly the masterminds behind Final Destination can work harder on a different shocker of a plot. Maybe next time, but for now, 4 stars out of 5!

Mario Kart is undoubtedly a great game franchise of games for the Nintendo. Always innovating in each series, with new characters, new vehicles, new modes of play to increase the interaction of the players and providing a lot of fun for several hours.

The last game of the franchise is the Mario Kart Wii, which has more than twenty characters and vehicles, including motorcycles, new tracks in addition to being able to play on some tracks of old games with some adaptations for the new game. The greatest innovations for the new Mario Kart is the fact that you can play with a steering wheel, simulating an actual race, and the on-line mode and can play up to 12 different players from around the world at the same time. Besides you can do tricks in the air making you gain a mini-turbo when you fall on the track after the realization of it.

But even being a very good game, in time to play things happen that leave either very angry, as:

• You are playing on-line and someone starts to call you or the phone starts ringing;
• You cost to get in first and someone throws a blue shell at you;
• Thundercloud appears and you’re too bad you can not get rid of it;
• You’re suddenly hit by a green shell;
• When someone throws a fake item box in you;
• You are currently in last place and so appears mushroom and you want a bullet bill;
• When you play on-line and have people doing hack and they begin to use all the items in the game to mess up;
• When you’re prancing the bike and someone hits you and you lose the balance;
• When the bullet bill hits you and you hood twice and falls into the hole.

Post what else makes you angry at this game if you’re not on that list, ask what it is.

The first thing that you may notice in the Leaked Modern Warfare 2 Gameplay video is the change in graphics. Though the video is in low quality, anyone with an eye for graphics may be able to spot the small, but noticeable, upgrade in graphics from the original. It’s a welcome upgrade, along with added features each sequel, we expect pumped up graphics as well. Though the game isn’t breath taking in the graphics department, it gets the job done, and gets it done well.

The next thing you might notice is the civilians running around the map. That was something that Infinity Ward briefly touched up on while being interviewed about Modern Warfare 2. Civilians have been placed in maps, which will make you have to think before you squeeze the trigger. Reason being, the civilians may resemble enemies at times, and you may be penalized for killing a civilian. Most likely by failing the mission if you kill too many. I’m sure Inifinity Ward wouldn’t let civilian killing go, because they’d get a lot of criticism for that. This is a welcome addition that makes the game that much more interesting to play, to say the least.

You should also see the return of the acog scope and grenade launcher. Looking great and functioning just as it did before. The fulls cope of weapon modifiers that can be used isn’t known as of now, but you can be sure to see a return of everything from the original Modern Warfare.

For those of you who have been dying for a new Modern Warfare 2 gameplay video, this leaked video is the closest thing you’ll get to it, so enjoy!

This Resident Evil is the sequel to the the Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles that was released in 2007. The same two characters will return to the Darkside Chronicles who were in the other game. In other words, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, will be coming back to the Nintendo Wii this holiday season.

According to Wikipedia, this Resident Evil game will be compatible with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk and also with the Nintendo Wii Zapper. This isn’t a brand new stand alone story in the Resident Evil series. Darkside Chronicles will actually be a “retelling” of two previous Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 2 and the Veronica Chronicles. New content to the story will also be added to this Nintendo Wii incarnation.

Check out the official Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles trailer here.

…are lies. They’re just print screen edited in some photo editing software.

People have also posted videos to show how this is fake explaining how it is done.

The proper way is by doing the Vidmaster Challenges on Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST. On Halo 3 the Vidmaster Challenges are:

• Annual
• Lightswitch
• Brainpan
• 7 on 7

Vidmaster Challenge: Annual

Complete Halo on Legendary LIVE, Co-Op with Iron and everyone in Ghosts

To do this you need XBOX Live and three competent friends. Until you get to the top of the crashed ship the best thing I found to do is rush. Make use of Rockets and Fuel Rod Cannons and charge at the flood. If you get injured hide get one person to cover you and the other 2 to carry on and you should be at the top in no time. Just watch your back when going up the stairs as they drop down. At the top stick back and stick together, watch out for shot gunners and maulers and take our the pure form floods while they are as stalkers or changing into ranged as that is when they are weakest. When you get to Guilty Spark stick to the back wall and jump over the beam so you are not blown of the edge or killed by his laser beam. Then wait a bit and take the laser kill Spark and go out. There are some flood here so be aware then head outside drop down to the left and you will find 4 ghosts. DON’T DRIVE OFF THE EDGE you will mess up your Ghost and have to make your way back up to the top. Then drive, I recommend having a leader who knows where they are are going and everyone stick just behind them but don’t crash or you’ll flip and die. You can splatter everything apart from flood carrier forms so if you see them on a non-falling platform shoot them or rive very slowly around them. Finally on the last stretch don’t slow down for a cool screen shot so that you fall just boost.

Vidmaster Challenge: Light Switch

Get to the rank of Lieutenant in the new Exp Ranking System

Get 50 Exp in one playlist, easiest in social like rumble pit due to poor guests and lower skilled players than in playlists like Lone Wolves. Don’t be an idiot and try to do it in Action Sack after me saying social playlists.

Vidmaster Challenge: Brainpan

Collect the 6 hidden skulls on the Mythic Map Packs

Get all the skulls on the 6 Mythic Maps, look on YouTube if you can’t find them. Find out more about the maps here. You also get a bonus 25 Gamerscore for unlocking this unlike the rest, on Halo 3, which get you a huge 0g.

Vidmaster Challenge: 7 on 7

Enter a matchmaking playlist with 7 Exp on the 7th of the month

Get 7 Exp in a playlist you don’t play that much so you can leave it at 7 Exp until the 7th of the next month. Then go into matchmaking on the 7th and ‘Start Matchmaking’ and bloop Achievement Unlocked. Alternatively get 7 Exp in the 7 on 7 playlist Bungie put up once a month, make sure you do it on the 7th as due to time zones it will be open from the 6th to the 8th.

The Vidmasters for ODST are:

• Deja Vu
• Classic
• Endure

Vidmaster Challenge: Déjà Vu

Completed Highway on 4 player Legendary LIVE co-op with Iron, and no ‘Hog or Scorpion.

When you start the mission go down the middle of the highway and you will see some rockets and mongooses, the rest is self explanitory. The best video guide I found is:

Vidmaster Challenge: Classic

Finished any level solo on Legendary, on LIVE, with no shots fired or grenades thrown.

Do this on Uplift Reserve, you have to grab the ghost and just boost. This can be a little buggy to unlock for some people, a big problem is using a Warthog and honking the horn, probably because it is the right trigger button. There are some really good short-cuts for this I can’t find the video that shows them at the moment.

A great guide here from Achievement Hunter from Rooster Teeth:

Vidmaster Challenge: Endure

In Firefight, on any mission, passed the 4th Set on 4 player Heroic LIVE Co-Op.

It’s Heroic so a bit easier than Legendary. In case you didn’t know Firefight is Halo’s alternative of Nazi Zombies and Horde where waves of enemies come at you over and over until you die. Four sets means 60 waves or 12 rounds or loads of Covenant. I recommend doing it on Lost Platoon. What you need to do is get one person with the laser and the sniper; their job is to take out the Wraiths and provide sniper supports but don’t forget about them when they are being swarmed by Grunts (maybe make sure there is an SMG or Pistol nearby them). Two people should get in the Warthog and their first job is to take out the Chopper driver not the chopper so the fourth person can get in it. Clear out two more choppers so you have three people in Choppers and one with the power weapons up high. Remember all weapons re-spawn after each round so if the Laser is only used on the Wraith you have just enough ammo. Be prepared for about 2 hours work but enjoy that nice 25g Vidmaster.

Good luck on your Road to Recon

Alternatively – ‘Impress a Member of Bungie staff!’