Shift 2: Unleashed review

after a large number need for speed sections, with one central theme tune was a few years back with Electronic Arts Need for Speed: Undercover. This was a nice game, but still not quite what fans wanted. Therefore, the publishing giant switched Slightly Mad Studios in a different kind of racing game Need for Speed, within the family and Need for Speed ​​Shift was born. In between Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit appeared, which is a very good success, even when it comes to review scores.


The greater was the surprise when it emerged that so Slightly Mad Studios in the meantime was busy with a sequel to Need for Speed: SHIFT. Shift 2: Unleashed also comes earlier than usual, because Need for Speed ​​games are usually played for the autumn. Enquiries showed, however, that Electronic Arts Need for Speed ​​franchise within the two families to create the realistic racers such as the Shift and the games are arcade racers, where the rest is subject. A nice idea and may work well if the quality remains high.

Some time back we have been here with Need for Speed ​​Shift 2: Unleashed can play and we were quite overwhelmed by the quality. Anyway, so you're not there yet, because it is of course, the final game. These we have now set out to try and we can see both new and familiar elements back. One of the main innovations is that the system Autolog Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has been included. This is essentially the same, but why does there have to find new things.


If you are connected to the Internet, then all your stats Autolog online sharing and your friends can see this example and your fastest lap time trying to improve. This creates a great competition between the tendency to feel and perform more replay also massively. That is not the only thing Autolog does, because in terms of statistics, an enormous amount kept. This is again in contrast to the career mode. Because in addition you must win races you can also leveling.

This level is done by points. The higher your position after finish, the more points you get. You also get points for making the perfect line and perfect corners. All this is saved and will be shared via the Autolog feature. So your friends can go on many more fronts to try to defeat what it most make somewhat larger. On the other hand, Autolog again contributing to the leveling, because if you know a friend again playing a fast lap or any other aspect, you get points again.


These points run in this way naturally up quickly and the higher your level is, the more races you can do. These races vary from circuit races with opponents again, to the breaking of a track record and drift sessions. As you progress, you also get access to more and better cars, which are all individually adjustable, both the inner and appearance, and your ultimate goal is to be the best driver. Terms of structure, this career mode compared to the previous section, not much changed, but the fact remains that it is rich enough that you dozens of hours to entertain them.

Besides a career mode we find more options in the game, but they are all quite common and let it for what it is. In that respect, there is little innovation to be seen, the Autlog after then. The innovation in this game lies mainly in the details. So once you get the cockpit view at your disposal and this angle lets you race from the perspective of the driver. In fact, you can see the contours of the helmet in the picture and your in-game head will respond to racing. So if there comes a corner, then turns the head and at high speed you will notice that the distance between your head and the forward considerably larger.


They are subtle details, but does show the image of a real good driver and that's just extremely cool. Add to this the audio is very strong, the engine sound is raw and growling, what a good sound system the better it sounds and racing to a wonderful experience. This is not the only thing that contributes, because what is also striking is the enormous sense of speed. If you're a bit of pace and a city race, which is packed with attractions that you will notice incredibly fast. That combined with the cockpit view and provides an excellent audio experience with a vengeance on.

The racing itself is in the beginning getting used to, because the cars have to drive it a little differently than usual. In the previous section, there was much criticism of the gezwabber of the cars on the tracks, which is now considerably less, what the control is beneficial. Yet we have seen now and then some strange movements of cars passing by and this can sometimes annoying. You can solve it by manually setup your car to adjust, but here you somewhat understand it. It is certainly an improvement and that is a bonus anyway.


Another point that stood out, especially after all the fuss about the AI ​​in the other racers, including Gran Turismo 5, is that the AI ​​Shift 2: Unleashed is very strong. Other drivers do not drive a land line, but deviate real. So it happened frequently that I could push them into the gravel, because they were hindering me in my racing line, or that the opponent without even once touching. This applies to every other driver on the circuit and it makes racing much more realistic and furthermore a lot more fun.

What is one aspect that can cause some frustration is that if you make a large coconut, leaving all your images. Logically, of course, because you get dazed, but also act as a soft touch your hands out in difficult situations and that can pretty disadvantage. In a blow this is of course obvious and fits well with the realism that we expect a game like this, also knows the game now features more damage as a whole some visually stronger. We should say that the game graphics are generally not very strong. It's certainly not ugly, but beautiful otherwise brilliant.


Another new visual aspect is the possibility to race at night. The circuits are in darkness and you will very well have to look at how the runway and of course what the competition is doing. This is sometimes incredibly difficult, but the downside is that it is very intense and then we refer to the previously discussed issues relating to the cockpit view, the audio and of course the sense of speed. Well, it is clear, the game is essentially mostly stayed true to the previous section, but now knows a lot forward innovation and that makes us very happy.

Need for Speed ​​Shift 2: Unleashed after Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit another game, which just very well put together. Most negative points from the previous part are eliminated or less present. The game features plenty of innovation and may take place between all the other great racers on earth like Gran Turismo 5 and Forza 3. The game is so good that it has the fun may be even better than Gran Turismo 5. The downsides are that the game contains disturbing, but do not outweigh the positives and thus we can conclude that EA and Slightly Mad Studios deliver a great racer.

Halo: Reach review

 It's the best looking, most fluid and all-around solid Halo to date. Weapons are balanced, matchmaking has been improved, DLC is out and more on the way (which you can still enjoy matchmaking to the fullest extent WITHOUT having to buy the maps if you do not desire to) and no Halo title previously offered so much customization and various game modes.

Single player campaign is fantastic. It differs from the novel The Fall of Reach significantly, so if you haven't read it, you're fine. If so, you might rage a little, but overall I thought the game told a better version (and I read the novel long before the game was even hinted at). The musical score is jaw-dropping and tear-jerking at times (no, no one actually cries when they hear it) as you follow Noble Team down their path of inevitable defeat as the Covenant destroy the planet.

Multiplayer is very similar to Halo 3, but vastly improved, with a new voting system (pick one of three maps/gametypes or NOTA, which leads to a new round of voting). The biggest change in game play (which otherwise remains tried and true to the series) is the addition of equipment which aids you in various fashions. Furthermore, everything you do, whether in Campaign, Matchmaking, or Firefight, is tracked and rewarded with in-game credits which you spend to customize your Spartan's armor and firefight voice. Each day there are additional Challenges to be accomplished, such as "Kill X amount of enemies in Y mode today" which earns anywhere between 1000 and 2000 extra credits. There is also a (usually very difficult or time consuming) Weekly Challenge, which is always something that either takes a full week to complete (such as "Complete X amount of Daily Challenges this week") or something that is very difficult and requires additional players (like "Complete X Campaign Mission with 'LASO' (Legendary difficulty, All Skulls On)).

To summarize, Reach stands as one of 2010's biggest games and holds its value to this day as the best damn Halo game that Bungie has made. It took a long time, but they've perfected the Halo experience (with ironically no Master Chief to be seen. Coincedence? You decide). This is a must-have.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts review

 

 Banjo Kazooie in their "Warthog" and also a conventional Nintendoish platformer on 360!

I've never played a Banjo & Kazooie game in my entire life. I know nothing of the series. But I saw a demo on an Xbox at a popular Video Game store, and decided to check it out. I downloaded a demo from Xbox Live, and bought the game less than 24 hours later!

Let me tell you something - ANY game that encourages this level of creativity and thought process, and rewards the player for doing so as this game does, is one FANTASTIC video game.

In a world of Grand Theft Auto's and Saints Row's, a game like Banjo & Kazooie Nuts & Bolts is such a welcome breath of fresh air.

If you're reading this now, you're probably not a huge BK fan because if you WERE, you'd have already tried and possibly purchased the game. So I'm writing this to people who are just now getting around to researching this game, since it has been out now for over 6 months.

B&K-N&B is all about building vehicles to accomplish all sorts of missions. All of the missions are timed, which I'll agree can be a little stressful. But failing to accomplish a set time in a mission only encourages one to build a better vehicle, or to find a new method to accomplish the task - to effectively "think outside the box." Vehicle designs - quite simply - are limitless. Cars/Trucks? Piece of cake. Boats? Can do. Planes? Yeup. Helicopters, too! Submarines are possible but a little difficult as your vehicles can either sink or float, but cannot maintain a particular "depth" underwater. Build a sub with a few concealed wheels underneath though and you'll be fine. The most fun (in my opinion) is building multi-purpose vehicles - like amphibious space-jumping race trucks... And of course what vehicle wouldn't be complete without some egg launchers, maybe rockets, or a boot that'll pop out of box and kick unsuspecting foes!

All in all the game aims to be cute - and believe me it delivers. At 30 years of age, even I have to laugh when the instruction says "Engine: makes vehicles move. Even stupid Bear can figure it out..." I'd normally aim this game at kids or maybe women who don't care for the usual gamut of racing/first-person-shooting/roleplaying games. My wife would probably love B&K-N&B.

I LOVE games that let me build stuff. I love games that makes people go, "Hey can I do this?... Wow yes I can!!" Not even 20 hours into the game I was trying to build Mater from the movie Cars. I built a massive cargo plane and watched it fly (complete with retracting landing gear!) and built a submersible helicopter. I don't care who you are - that's AWESOME right there...

I also see a TON of content in this game. After 20 hours I've only unlocked a small fraction of available vehicle parts and levels. Of course, most of that is due to the fact that I'm too busy doing looptie-loops in my jumbo jet or exploring the ocean sea-bed in my truck... But B&K-N&B ALLOWS you to do that stuff, so have at it!!!

Phenomenal game. Phenomenal idea, and just a constant source of entertainment. The text issues have been fixed for the most part. The graphics are beautiful, the stories are funny and entertaining, and even though I know very little of the B&K history, it's obviously not necessary to enjoy this awesome chapter of the story.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood review

 I just recently finished the game. The main storyline was done in about a week and I've been doing a lot of the extra stuff ever since.
There isn't much of a difference graphics-wise but then there didn't really need to be. The game play itself though is vastly improved. You can now travel from section to section on the map, without having to deal with a loading screen. Also, the fighting mechanics are much more fun. Taking on a horde of guards doesn't mean losing all your health anymore. Also, you can recruit other assassins and call upon them to assist you in your battles. The missions aren't frustratingly, annoyingly difficult anymore. Even a casual gamer can beat the storyline with not too many retries if they focus on the task at hand and pick up on the mechanics fairly easily.

Thee were only a couple things that disappointed me. The first is, they haven't gotten rid of the Tomb Raider aspect of the game, where you have to climb these indoor structures to find items and stuff. Also, the game's ending is open, leaving room for another sequel. Not that I have a problem with that per se but I was hoping for more closure than what you got when the credits rolled.

Super Mario World review

 When I bought my Super Nintendo almost nine years ago this was one of the first games I owned for it. NO ONE SHOULD DISLIKE THIS GAME IN ANY WAY, IF YOU DO, YOU MUST REALLY DISLIKE CLASSICS IN GENERAL. It is one of the wildest and insane games ever made, and that is a clear signature of the originality of Nintendo. The game is basically about Mario and Luigi battling their way through the island while defeating the forces of Bowser yet again and rescuing the damsel in distress YET AGAIN. As you beat the different sections of the island you move to larger and much more challenging sections of the island which get crazier as you move from stage to stage. The boss battles can be challenging and funny because of how the bosses are designed. No retro gamer should miss out on this hilarious and original game that is still a lot of fun to play despite its release almost 20 years ago (in a few more years it's going to hit 20). One problem is the fact this game can be quite challenging and confusing in some areas. And the Game Boy Advance version of this game lets you play either Mario or Luigi (it doesn't make you stay exclusive to one during segments of the game). Still, if you don't have a SNES, you can easily find this game on Game Boy Advance and it looks and plays the same as the original classic.