Mass Effect 2: Arrival DLC Review

If your finishing something, you usually would like to go out with a bang rather than a whimper.  I'm sure this probably wasn't the thinking behind the last piece of DLC for last year's game of the year Mass Effect 2.  This add-on titled 'Arrival' started off with Bioware promising to bridge the story between 2 and the upcoming Mass Effect 3.  But sadly it doesn't.

Arrival starts as any other mission with a "message at your private terminal" there you are given a mission by Admiral Hackett to rescue Dr Amanda Kenson from a fleet of Batarian's holding her captive, apparently she has information on the Reapers.  Hackett gives the excuse that Shepard will have to go in alone as to not attract attention and cause a full scale Batarian-Human war.  It's basically Bioware trying to cover up the fact they wanted us to not have our squad for this mission, I don't really know why this decision was made but I'm not happy about it.  All those hours you put into Mass Effect to build-up your squad and you can't take them on the last mission with you, they even rub salt into the wounds by still having dialogue from Shepard saying thing's like "We've been spotted" No, we haven't been spotted just you Shepard.

Without doubt one of Mass Effect's greatest parts is the conversation system and the idea of choice.  A choice made is one of the ways that your Shepard is 'your' Shepard, you define him by your decisions made in the previous games.  I won't spoil anything, but there looks to be a big decision to be made in Arrival but the choice is taken completely out of your hands.  I was expecting to make the decision and was weighing up both options but then Shepard just decided to 'do' it without me deciding, the control was taken out of my hands.

If you enjoyed shooting things in Mass Effect 2 then you'll like Arrival, as narrow corridors and many shootable enemies is what we get, just foot soldiers, nothing spectacular just loads and loads of bodies to kill.  I think Bioware have let us and Mass Effect 2 down, to let a game this good bow out with DLC that really adds nothing at all is a real shame.  The Reapers are coming, we know that, now let's get Mass Effect 3 out so we can forget about this 'Arrival'.

4/10

RetroView: SEGA Dreamcast Part Two

Welcome back to our second foray into the world of the Dreamcast. After last weeks look at the console itself and the launch titles, let's now take a more detailed look at what made Sega's White beauty special, the games.

Shenmue is a game which is synomonus with the system, both for it's ground breaking production at the time and how it's cost was one of the many major factors of Sega's demise. While the early reports were putting the game at $70 million, game creator Yu Suzuki recently clarified it was only a mere $46 million. A huge risk for Sega and one that in the long run didn't pay off.

But let's not get down in the dumps, for me and many others Shenmue was the pinnacle of the last generation with graphics that weren't surpassed by anything on PS2, Xbox or Gamecube. A story that to this day still enriches people's imagination, admittedly this is partly fuelled by the fact the story isn't finished, as the main character Ryo is currently stuck in a cave at the end of the sequel which also appeared on the Dreamcast and later on Xbox.

This is still my highlight of playing games

Shenmue is the first and only game to create it's own genre. The F.R.E.E (full reactive eyes entertainment) is in it's simplest form a mix between a TV series, RPG and Virtua Fighter. Shenmue was the first game where you could truly go wherever you wanted and do what you wanted. While the overall goal of the game was to find the man who killed your father you could've wasted all of Ryo's days playing Space Harrier in the arcade by morning, rummaging through strangers draws and cupboards in the afternoon and playing pool with drunk sailor's at night. You could even look after your own cat as well, if that was your thing. A game that merely started out as a Virtua Fighter RPG turned out to be the high point of the system and to this day deserves either a sequel or re-make to let those that missed it fully appreciate a true classic.


Did the high cost of Shenmue and massive gamble by Sega to have put all their money shaped eggs into one basket backfire? Sort of. There is no doubting the failure of Shenmue to make a profit added a nail to the Dreamcast's coffin, but for Shenmue to break even it is reported every Dreamcast owner would have had to buy the game twice, something that was never going to happen. I find it's best to look at Shenmue as a labour of love from Sega. They knew profit was impossible but wanted to leave us with a fantastic and engrossing experience that nothing has matched since.

Going to another type of true classic now I'll move onto possibly the strangest, quirkiest game ever made on God's green Earth called Seaman. Unfortunately the game is not about trying to become a failed England goalkeeper with a ponytail and is more to do with talking fish. Say wha....???

"I used to play for Arsenal and England, who am I"

Seaman was the first game where you talk to fish! Well fish with a human head, it was the sort of game that could only have come from Japan. They started off life as an egg and grew and by talking into the Dreamcast microphone you could communicate with them and help them develop their talkative nature by teaching them new words and phrases. Amazingly Seaman was a ripple of success and even earned itself a sequel, unlike the massive petition demanding a Shenmue III there is no plans by Sega at this moment in time to produce a fishy sequel, sad face.


For the Dreamcast to fail so early was an absolute crime, all those great games that came out in it's short life span was truly remarkable. From Shenmue to Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur to Soul Reaver and even to ones I haven't mentioned yet, Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star Online, Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi. The real depressing thing is that Sega pulled out of the hardware race, they had almost got it spot on with the Dreamcast but the Playstation brand name was just too strong to overcome at a time in the nineties and noughties where video gaming was Playstation. Will we ever see Sega back in the race? I highly doubt it. Will they continue to produce high quality titles such as Yakuza, Sonic Colours, Bayonetta and Vanquish? Of course, because to be this good takes ageS.

Yakuza 4 Review

Yakuza is very close to establishing itself as an annual franchise. Similar to your Sports title's and Call of Duty type, one a year formula games. This is the second Yakuza game to hit these shores in as many years following on from the mild success of the first two to hit the Playstation 2. After much fan badgering Sega finally decided to release Yakuza 3 last year, they 'westernised' the game by taking out much of the quirky Japanese tastes (hostess bars, massage parlours etc) that made the first two unique. But thanks to solid sales and an unhappiness at what was left out in Yakuza 3 the sequel arrived fully intact with all Japanese shenanigan's and without the need for a brisk internet campaign from loyal fans.

So now that it's here what makes Yakuza 4 different from previous iterations of the series? Well to be truthful not a lot really. It's still the same Kamurocho town that we've been to in the last three games, still the same random battles in the street's and still the same convoluted plot story with massive twists and murder 24/7. But just because it's the same doesn't mean that goes in the negative column. Yakuza 4 differs itself by taking control away from series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma for most of it.

Instead you control four different characters from different backgrounds. Akiyama, a loan shark, Saejima a convict, Det. Takimura a rookie cop and finally everyone's favourite ex-Yakuza turned orphanage owner Kiryu Kazuma. Each individual story starts at different time periods throughout the games setting of March 2010 while at first I was extremely sceptical as to how all of these individual stories would link up in the end, they eventually came together quite spectacularly. At time's the story in the middle of the game seems to get very complicated with enough threads to knit a wooly jumper. By taking control of the other three characters we see Kazuma as the true legend that he is in Kamourocho. Much like what Kojima did in Metal Gear Solid 2 with Raiden and Snake. By taking control away from the player of Kazuma it really let's his character develop in a way that you couldn't by controlling him.

While of course a good story is Yakuza's main selling point the fighting comes a close second. Now don't get me wrong the fighting in Yakuza is good, it's the exact same as 3 save for a few new moves for the new characters. All the heat mode finishing moves are identical to what we see in 3. The finishers are still as fun and brutal as ever but I feel it was just sheer laziness to leave the exact same mechanics in. Do we really need to see these again, I must have hit someone round the head with a baseball bat about 70 times in Yakuza 3 and it's the exact same now for 4. The fighting system will probably need a bit of refreshing when the inevitable Yakuza 5 comes round (I'm ignoring Yakuza: Of The End) as it's the only bit of the game that feels old. The lock-system doesn't quite work all the time and blocking can be a bit hit or miss but smashing someone's head into the wall never gets old, ever.

In summing up Yakuza 4 it does feel a bit dated at times, especially if you're right up to date with the series. But being dated isn't always a bad things, the thing's Yakuza 4 does well it does fantastically and kept me hooked right up until the finish. There are hundreds of hours you could lose with many many side-quest's including running a hostess bar, training up rookie karate kid's and even playing in a Sega arcade. If you haven't delved into a Yakuza game before I would start with 3 to learn a bit about the back story, if you enjoyed 3 then I see no reason why you shouldn't come back. Look past the ageing fighting system and you'll find yourself a great game and a great world to be in.

8/10

Pokemon White/Black

Well it's about that time again, a new Pokemon on the shelves. Baring in mind this will be the first time I have played a Pokemon game since 1996, Pokemon Blue obviously, I am interested to see what Pokemon White has so offer! What has changed in 15 years? Well lets find out.

Pokemon White has an interesting story to say the least! Unlike the original Pokemon games where the objective is simply to get all 8 Badges and beat whoever else is in your path. Pokemon white has a more structured story, battling Team Plasma who's goal in the world is to free all Pokemon from their owners. I understand this sounds strange, but you begin to understand how this is wrong! Like always you still need to compete for badges and progress the same old way, but it is certainly nice to have a bit more of a story to play with.

The first thing you will notice is how the games presentation hasn't changed much, but why would it? The original Pokemon Red and Blue was very basic, but simply brilliant. I played Pokemon White and I am very happy with how it all looks, I was interested to see what Nintendo would do with the Dual screens and they did not disappoint! The top screen is your main screen like in most DS games, when walking the tall grass of Unova and also where you get to watch your favorite Pokemon battle it out! The bottom screen is used when fighting, it serves as your command center, you can chose your moves, items, switch Pokemon and the choice to Run here. You can either tap the screen which is a nice touch or simply direct the icon with the D-pad. When you are free roaming the bottom screen is only used for looking at items or if you have Online mode on, you can chose multiple options here.

The scenery is nicely done, with a few little effects whilst roaming, however the game does feel slightly out of date. In such a long time you would feel they may have changed it up a bit, a different camera angle or something.. Just to spice it up a little. Also when the Pokemon fight it seems very basic, a few Pokemon have some sweet effects but again it would have been nice to see a little more physical action between Pokemon.

I was always a fan of the Pokemon music, especially when you first turn the game on or when you get your first Poke battle, feeling like a kid again! And yet again Pokemon have done very well in providing a simple soundtrack, but for the most part I just had the sound off. Most of the sounds are very basic and can get a bit annoying, the option to play without sound is very nice.

The gameplay is nice as always with Pokemon, its very simple but highly addictive at the same time. You begin to play and even though all of these new Pokemon who you have never seen before, you want to see them grow as always! It was really nice to see them evolve because you had literally no idea what was coming! I do miss the original guys, Charizard and Blastoise.. Don't fear however, because you can get up to over 650 Pokemon in this game! Insane I know! You aren't able to get any of the older Pokemon until you have got or met all the new ones. I do want to stress one thing however, getting the old Pokemon is not easy in anyway. You can meet most of them, however a lot of the original Pokemon have to be traded from other games such as Soul Silver and Heart Gold, lame. I finished the game last night and all I wanted was my Charmander, but no. Now I am looking for a way to get him! As I have not played the previous game on the DS I don't know if this new 3 vs 3 battle is new or not, but its pretty cool.

The burning question is how long does it all last? Put it this way, the main story line takes around 40 hours to complete, seeing as the final battle is very hard and you end up having to go back and level up! Not only that, when you finish the game you can go back on with almost half the world left to explore and then you can fight the Elite four again, getting to level 100 when you only need to be around 50 to beat the game. There are a few Legendary Pokemon for you to get, obviously the Dragons on the covers, along with 5/6 more. There are also some Fossil Pokemon and exclusive Pokemon! They have to be traded over Black and White to 'Catch em all'. So you are looking at hundreds of hours easily! Well worth your money.

Before we end I know everyone who doesn't have the game already, wants to know.. What Color? Well a tough question, just like 15 years ago when you had to chose between Red and Blue the choice is here again. I went for white, why? I have no idea.. I liked the look of the cover? To be honest there isn't much difference, simply the final fight and a few Pokemon here and there, but nothing drastic. I say just chose which looks cooler to you at the time and wing it that way.

So lets recap. Pokemon yet again delivers in every way. Yes its still the same old Pokemon with a dash of color, but that isn't a bad thing! If you have ever been a Pokemon fan you will like this game. Even if it's not 'cool' anymore, I challenge anyone to play this for more than an hour and not enjoy it. If you are looking for a good game to burn some time into, have a relaxed time then this is for you. Well actually, I say relaxed, but I tell you.. There is nothing more frustrating than having an epic battle with this damn wild Pokemon who you, paralyze, put to sleep, confuse, basically everything under the sun.. Leave him with almost no HP and then after all of that..  the little Pokeball shakes 3 times.. Pauses then damn well breaks out!!! The rage does begin to flow, but it's is all part of the fun! As its a DS game the price tag isn't like buying a 360 game or a PS3 game. I am struggling to find anything wrong with this game at all, but simply because it isn't a huge leap forward I can't score it perfectly. Giving Pokemon White a...

9/10

RetroView: SEGA Dreamcast Part One

There are a lot of thing’s people look back on and with the help of nostalgia everything seem’s rose tinted.  As a soon to be 24 year old when I look back at my life there are a few thing’s I remember, playing football for perhaps every day up until I was 18, wasting hours and hours playing Sonic 3 on the Mega Drive, watching Cartoon Network and finally, but most importantly, playing the Dreamcast.  That’s right ladies and gentleman, it may shock you but I am indeed a fanboy, not just any old fanboy, a SEGA fanboy.  Don’t let anyone else tell you they don’t exist anymore.  Were still here, waiting hoping and praying for that Dreamcast 2 release (Maybe SEGA should start buying lottery tickets?) and kick Microsoft, Sony and Nin-ten-don’t right back to the curb!  Yeah go SEEEEEGGGAAAAA!

Until that day arrives though we can happily reminisce on one of the shortest but without a doubt greatest console of this and any generation so far.  Sure your Playstation 3 can play Blu-Rays, the Xbox 360 has got some sort of Halo online thing and the Wii has, err well..waggle I guess?  But did they have a controller with a damn screen in the middle?!  No, no they don’t.  While the Dreamcast was at the time the fastest selling launch ever it never really sold much more once people got a whiff that the Playstation 2 could sell DVD’s.  But let’s not dwell on what went wrong, let’s celebrate the life span of THE greatest console of all time, the SEGA Dreamcast.

This still looks real to me...

In America we had the iconic launch date of 9/9/99, probably the most brilliant idea for a launch date of all time and with 375,000 sold the Dreamcast got off to a flyer.  The Dreamcast itself was the first console to ship with a modem, meaning online gaming for the first time ever for consoles.  The slogan ‘only 6 billion players’ may have been slightly exaggerated but you got the point.  The controller itself while not special at the time, you can see in both the HD console’s now that they both have their roots in the Dreamcast controller.  Especially Microsoft’s 360, it’s almost an exact copy.  Oh and how on earth can we forget the VMU, Visual Memory Unit, arguably the star of the show in terms of hardware.  This little beauty enabled you to take the game away from the console.  In Sonic Adventure it enabled you to raise your Tamigotchi like Chao animal by going on an adventure with it and playing mini-games.  Not many games used the VMU but it was quite handy also at saving your game, I mean, this is in the day’s your average Joe thought a hard drive was some sort of sexual innuendo.

Still to this day, nothing comes close to beating it

As you can see from just reading the small paragraph above here, Dreamcast made a heck of a lot of innovation’s both at the time and one’s that caught on in this generation.  But Sega’s new baby isn’t done yet with the party tricks, within it’s short two year life span the Dreamcast had the best amount of triple A title’s released in such a short life span.  Right from launch the Dreamcast was kicking with Sonic Adventure, the first ever Sonic game in 3D.  While trying to ignore the fact you were looking at a giant blue hedgehog on two feet and wearing sneakers, the graphics looked real at the time.  Sonic Adventure was the first Dreamcast game I put into the console and just watching the intro stunned me.  Within a couple of years I had gone from blocky Mario 64 to watching water stream out of buildings and some sort of Chaos monster destroy an entire city, and it looked so beautiful.

The second game I got with the Dreamcast is still to this day without doubt the greatest fighting game of all time, Soul Calibur.  As amazing as Sonic Adventure was, this looked better and at the time was the best looking game ever made.  Luckily, we also got the best fighting game to go along with the graphics.  For me, most fighting games disappoint when I’m left with Arcade Mode and VS Mode in the main menu.  Soul Calibur of course had these, but it also had Mission BAttle Mode.  A gameplay mechanic that sent your character across the world fighting against enemies but in different situations.  I remember one stage where both you and your opponent are being poisoned while slowly sinking into the sand.  Nothing like this had been done before, let’s remember again that this innovation in fighting game’s, was started with the Dreamcast.  Just to add a little personal touch as to how good Soul Calibur was, I spent the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000 playing Mission Battle as Kilik, yes I missed the New Year's party, well worth it.

To this day Power Stone is way too crazy for me, but I want more!

The launch line up also included Power Stone, a great arcade fighting game that allows four fighters at once with an environment that can act as safety and as a weapon depending on what you choose.  It was a great game from Capcom and while later in the life of the console we did get a Power Stone 2, fans are still clambering for a sequel to this day, another franchise that has unfortunately died with the Dreamcast.  There was also the crazy horror game Blue Stinger, which had possibly the worst voice acting of all time it's still a hit on YouTube because of it.  It seemed a bit like Jurassic Park meets Resident Evil.  There were a few other games of note, NFL 2K, Penguin racing game PenPen, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and Fast and the Furious inspired Tokyo Xtreme Racer.

While the promise from the start of the Dreamcast was for online gaming, here in Europe for whatever reason we got this a couple of months late which was a real shame.  So what did Sega do to make it up for all of us early European adopters?  They gave us Chu Chu Rocket for free!  Yes, a £40 game given to us for absolutely nothing!  Not only that, Chu Chu Rocket is the only console puzzle game I’ve ever liked, possibly because it involved Cat’s, Mice and spaceship’s but that’s a story for another day....

Anyway, here end’s part one of the Dreamcast’s early life, in part two I will introduce arguably the killer game and killer of the console plus will look at all the niche title’s that Sega gave us, some of which we will never see a sequel for.  Here’s a clue for one of the titles - Talking Fish....until next time, Ciao!

ACB: The Da Vinci Disappearance Review

Assassins Creed Brotherhood got it's first piece of meaty DLC in the form of 'The Da Vinci Disappearance'.  It includes both a single player and multiplayer aspect and cost's £7.99 from the PSN.  The single player part of the DLC expands the story beyond the main plot lines of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and offers some tentative clue's as to where the main story line is heading and perhaps if you delve deep enough, even offers some hints on Brotherhood's direct sequel, due out this winter.

The missions' in single player are varied with the latter half of the eight new missions really quite memorable compared to most things offered during the main story.  Both the setting and story development of this part of the DLC is quite interesting, taking you to places not really like anything seen in ACB.  The one down point of the single player portion of the DLC is the length.  It perhaps at best offers only a pitiful two hours of extra content, while you are getting the multiplayer too with your purchase, most people enjoy the Assassins Creed series for single player, just two hours to flesh out some more of Ezio's part in the series seems a bit lame, especially as there is a high chance it's the last we'll see of the Italian Stallion.

Brotherhood's suprisingly good multiplayer has been upgraded with this DLC to include a new map, two new modes (Assassinate and Escort) and four new characters to hack and dismember your friends with.  While the inclusion of this is good, I feel the addition of the death-match style Assassinate mode kind of defeats of the object of what makes ACB's multiplayer so good.  It was the ability of having to go after just one target while watching your back.  Now it's a bit like a free for all.

So should you spend your hard earned money on the DLC?  Well I think it depends on how you view the franchise.  If you love the series and want to flesh out every bit of information you can, then it's a definite purchase as you'll enjoy the story and of course the multiplayer if you enjoy going online already.  If your just a casual Creed fan then it's possibly best to just wait for the next instalment and save your money.

7.5/10

Top reasons why Mortal Kombat 2011 will rock!

It's sure been a while since we last had a Mortal Kombat on our gaming shelves, but on the 21st of April that long wait is over! These are my top reasons why Mortal Kombat will dominate any other fighting game thats on the market!

First lets start off with how the game looks, incredible is the first word that comes to mind. Mortal Kombat will be running on a heavily modified version of the Unreal 3 engine which already in the demo is showing how impressive this is going to look! NetherRealm Studios are back doing what they do best, it honestly feels like they look at all other fighting games that are on the market and say 'ah thats why that sucks, lets change that'. They have heavily worked on how the characters look during fights instead of just at the begging and end, throughout a fight you will see characters wounds starting to open and blood starting to poor, you will be seeing exposed brains, rib cages and pretty much every place that is hit on the game. This is a great feature and I really can't wait to see more of this.


NetherRealm aslo have added a new special move ability to each individual fighter, you build the power bar up by fighting in which there are three stages. Filling up the first few bars allows you to do heavy versions of your moves, such as the frost ball by Subzero or the classic 'Get over here' by Scorpion. If you fill up all three bars you are able to do a super move, where you have no control and the system does a quick animation, taking off around half of the enemies health. Not only this, the animation is incradably cool, each character has a different animation, but these are brutal!! Scorpions for an eg you see him punch the enemies cracking his skull, when he drops to the ground he stoms on their ribs and you see them crack, the camera focuses on the skeleton of the enemy, almost like an xray! I can't wait to see more of this in the final game.

Where Marvel vs Capcom recently lacked in producing any sort of story whatsoever, Mortal Kombat have assured players that there is a detailed story mode along with some others! The classic arcade mode of course is still a huge factor but NetherRealm have tried to add fun and interesting game types, one that I am looking forward to is the slot spinning system! You spin at the start of the game and it activates certain perks or de buffs, for example, players have to fight with no arms are allowed, no punching! But instead of just saying you can't punch, they just chop your arms of as your characters wait to fight! Also with some other little interesting games modes, it should bring a lot of smiles to players wanting more for fighting games! The classic lader mode is also back but with 300 rounds! 300!! Getting harder and harder as you go on, all I can say is good luck for people wanting that Platinum trophy on the ps3.

Lets talk characters real quick, as I already mentioned they look amazing and so far there is no disappointment with the line up! The classic Scorpion and Subzero are there of course, along side with the rest of the crew! Still waiting the word on a few people like Smoke but we will see in time, also promised DLC will enable new people and maps I take it! I am still hoping that some of the maps have interactive dangers and traps with them like in previous games where players could kick others into death spike traps! Yes the Fatalities are back and of course they do use maps as part of them if you chose the correct one, I think its nice to have two different Fatalities, especially when each map is vastly different, you could end up seeing a different Fatality for every fight you play almost. Fatalities on a quick side note, kick ass. They are brutal, full of blood and simple rock. No better way to show your dominance but we all know this by now!

I have not had a chance to play online yet but I sure hope that Mortal Kombat does better than Marvel vs Capcom on the online front, I request spectating live games, advanced ranking systems and just being able to get a damn game!! Other than that, the fighting system is great! Certainly not as fast paced as Marvel vs Capcom but it's not the same game! Combos are hard to work for and when you get them it really pays off! For now these are the reasons why Mortal Kombat is going to own! I can't wait to get my hands on the full copy April 21st. I think PS3 though, being able to play as Kratos, win.

Anyway guys I will be posting my review shortly after release. Until then we may as well stick with Marvel vs Capcom, sigh.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

After 11 years in the waiting, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is finally here. But how have Capcom done in this highly anticipated time?

The first thing you will notice is Capcoms choice of graphics, the game has a very bright and vibrant feeling which lots of color jumping around constantly, is this a bad thing? I don't think so, I think it makes a change, it may lack the polish that some people are looking for like in games such as the new Mortal Kombat, but this isn't what Capcom were trying to achieve. The game has an almost comic book like style to it, the graphics represent exactly what you get when you read the comics, which I personally think is a great feature, it may not be for everyone, but with the amount of detail that can appear on the screen at any one time, it makes the gameplay run a lot smoother. The vivid colors make is a very pleasing game to play, Capcom really didn't cheap out in trying to make this game look, fun.

Alongside the very new graphics system Capcom have gone for, the sound presentation for this game is also pretty good. You can clearly hear and define the every effect of certain moves, even when you have 4 people on the screen at once, you can actually tell who is there just from listening. The voice acting is also done very well, it gives the game a very fun feel to it with some extremely quirky characters who you literally want on your team for comic value. Deadpool for example, Deadpool is portrayed in this game exactly as he is in the comics, he is nuts! He constantly breaks the fourth wall and talks to the player, he even breaks apart the games dynamics, breaking off the plays health bar and smacking his opponents  with it! It is simply one of the funniest things I have ever seen in a game!

The big question is, how does this game play? Well some people feel that Capcom may have held back slightly and after 11 years in the waiting, it kinda pisses me off. However you can't fault this game for how it runs. As a huge fighting game fan I was eager to test how Capcom delivered and it's safe to say they didn't disappoint, with 3 vs 3 fights, multiple team combos and huge air combos flying all over the place, if you can master how to manipulate these combos you can take your opponents  on a wild ride. It is highly addictive, espeically when you know how to utilize big combos and high hit count moves.

Well folks that is pretty much me done being nice about this game, if you are going to be offended by me telling the truth about this game, as I know a lot of the die hard fans out there are, I suggest you stop reading now and keep telling yourself this is the best fighting game on the market. As much as I wanted to write a great review about how the game was exactly what we all deserved after all this time, I can't do that. Marvel vs Capcom 3 has an abundant amount of this wrong with it! First and formost, where is our damn story mode! Why is there no story?! And you cannot tell me that the 5 or so fights and suddenly fighting Galactus, which I am not being funny is ridiculously easy! After you beat him, you get a 2/3 segment piece of art work with a little story, which at first seems cool but then you think to yourself, is this it?!? Where is the rest of my game Capcom!

For a lot of people this will be the first time they play the series and I hate to say it but a lot will be disappointed. This game didn't need a huge detailed story, we aren't talking like this is Mass Effect or something, but just anything! Something to explain to people how these two worlds came together, there is a story to it so why not tell everyone! It just feels cheap to have such a pathetic arcade mode! Next and I will make this short, but the training mode.. What the hell! Okay with Marvel vs Capcom there really is a way to dominate your enemy and you can see the players who have played the previous games dominating online because they know how to use the combos effectively. The way they try and 'teach' you is with mission mode. You get set targets of what to do and thats kind of it, but this is the worst training ever! They show you the button figuration and sequence before the match starts and then its gone!! Why not have it at the bottom of the screen like in Super Street Fighter! It's wrong and it's cheap! You feel like Capcom just sat back and thought, "na, we don't need it" to everything!

Even the rooster, I know some people will argue with me about this, but the rooster is poor. Yes there are some great characters here, but some huge ones are missing! No fantastic four whatsoever?! Why is Ken not on Capcoms side? And if one person says it will come out on DLC they should be shot. We should get them all for the full purchase price, its a joke that we are expected to pay full price for a half finished game! As my list goes on, I feel like I have to mention online. Online mode is a complete disaster, 90% of the time when you attempt to join a game you will see the "searching" box just sat there or it will just fail! Are you kidding me! This isn't a difficult thing to fix, its not like we are asking you to host 32 players in an online death match, no. It's 2 people. 2!! Which brings me onto the point, why no spectator mode!! Why Capcom are you doing this! No instead if you are in a loby with 2 people fighting you see there stupid avatar cards bounce into each other. A complete disaster.

My final verdict is pretty simple, I paid half the full retail price for Marvel vs Capcom a day after launch on Amazon. I couldn't believe it was this cheap, now I know why. Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoy this game, its great if you have friends that enjoy fighting games and if you like just jumping on as your favorite Marvel or Capcom characters and kicking some ass! The game runs extremely well and it is really fun, but for a full retail priced game, I can't recommend it. Wait for the price drop which is inevitable and pick it up, but with the total rejection of a story and just the feeling of being cheated out of my time and money, I can't rate Marvel vs Capcom more than;

6.5/10

KILLZONE 3 REVIEW

Killzone is often branded as Playstation's Halo, and while the comparison is maybe a little wrong considering the differing aspects of both games Killzone certainly is the best exclusive first person shooter on the system that does 'everything'.  Yes I'm well aware there's also the Resistance series but that tends to be more the thinking man's shooter rather than the space marine blow em all up that Halo and Killzone are.

Killzone 3 starts off right where Killzone 2 left off (spoiler alert of course) after the game's protagonist's are killed at the end of the second game, our hero's Rico and Sev are pretty much abandoned by the ISA on the Helghan planet along with the Helghast, guys who have crazy red eyes, to deal with their anger for you killing Helghan leaders Radec and Visari in Killzone 2.

While the overall story and setting of Killzone 3 is a lot better than Killzone 2, I feel that the protagonists are no where near as good as the second's.  Radec's lust for death and no nonsense killing isn't really matched at all by Stahl and Orlock.  While there is some fantastic political dialogue describing the breaking factions within the Helghan throughout the campaign, it isn't really explored enough unfortunately in the game.  What could have been a fantastic story petered out into just being a good one.  Perhaps that sounds like I'm doing a dis-service to the game's story, don't get my wrong it is really good and kept me engrossed till the end much better than two did, but there was just so much potential to really flesh out what's really going on in the Helghan hierarchy, an opportunity certainly missed.

Killzone 3 - Now with Jet Packs

The campaign takes place in various environments from an alien jungle to arctic landscapes, nuclear wastelands, war torn cities and a rather interesting final mission with a few curveballs with the elements, well worth the wait to the end of the campaign as the final level was a personal highlight for me.

While nothing revolutionary has come to the table gameplay wise the addition of brutal melee's is very much welcome.  Killzone has always been ahead of other shooters' is terms of making you feel like you are a human and not just a floating camera.  The brutal melee's are so well done that you can feel the knife stabbing into a Helghan helmet or the neck snapping, etc etc you get the idea.

Of course multiplayer is back with no real new additions of note, strangely a two player co-op mode has been added for campaign but not for online.  A really weird decision by Guerilla games and I'd love to know why, considering how good something like Gears of War is with online co-op it's a real shame you can't play through the campaign online with a friend.

Possibly the best Peripheral ever made

I can't end this review without talking about the 'sharpshooter' a Playstation peripheral that looks like an assault rifle that utilises the Playstation Move and Navigation controller.  While there's no doubting it looks amazing, there is always a worry with accessories like this that they won't be able to pull it off, well they did.  It's not just some lump of plastic it's a fully functional gun with everything except of course real bullets.  I played through the whole campaign with the sharpshooter because I was so comfortable using it.  For the first half an hour there will be a getting to know each other period especially when turning corners but soon you'll be having so much fun time fly's by.

In closing Killzone 3 is the best first person shooter on the console in my opinion.  It combines the space marine gung ho of Halo with the militarisation of something like a Call of Duty while still having a convincing cast and storyline, oh and the multiplayer is up there as one of the best in gaming.  While I wish they had fleshed out the story a wee bit more and perhaps showed a bit of innovation in multiplayer (something every FPS is accountable for) it's still a must buy for any self respecting PS3 owner.

9/10