WWE 12

In recent times the previously named Smackdown vs Raw series became stale and predictable, there wasn't much innovation except from the roster update, and this didn't go unnoticed, THQ made it clear in their marketing build up to this game that it would be a revolution and a new start, a different direction for the series  and fittingly they changed the name for the first time in since "WWE Smackdown Here Comes The Pain" back in 2003, so much was expected of this new iteration, but did it live up to the hype it garnered? 

In fact that is an hard question to answer because this game is so good in areas but so bad in others. Starting with the positives as ever, this game has gone out of its way to splinter itself from its predecessors, everything has changed, the user interface is different, the in-match camera angles have been changed and modified, and most importantly the fighting system has evolved into a fluid fast paced experience. 

CM Punk's new attire features in this game

The new combat system in this game is a major plus point, and has genuinely been redefined and modernised, gone are the days of each grapple being unbreakable, this simple addition to the grappling system adds so much more excitement to each match, for example if your setting some one up for a running finishing move such as the Brogue Kick as Sheamus begins to run you can run at him with another character and Spear him and score a pinfall, this is especially exciting in matches with more superstars on the highest difficulty. The way you enter the grapples has also been modified, you no longer use the right analogue stick to enter a grapple but instead us the (A) button which is a lot more intuitive and feels more natural to the player. 

Realism is a concept that runs through the blood of game, each aspect of WWE 12 has the main focus of making the game more realistic and more like real WWE matches, this is extended to even the new camera angles, they are dynamic and will act on what is happening in the ring (or on top of a cage) there are special camera effects and slowdowns for thing such as finishing moves, there is no better feeling than seeing Randy Orton's Punt Kick in slow motion, the fluid camera motion subliminally keeps the action flowing and ensures for a fast paced bout. 

An example of the new graphics 

One thing that ever gamer looks for in every game are the graphics and these too have been improved in this game, the superstar likeness is like no other WWE game, they have revamped each character to match exactly how they look, taking into consideration tattoos, scars and exact body shape. Each character also has the correct and up to date attire and more impressively have lifelike movement when walking to the ring and moving in the ring. In this game you do feel like the superstar that you are playing, if your playing as the Big Show you feel physically slower than a high flyer such as Rey Mysterio but on the flip side you can feel you superior strength with every move you hit.

The level of creativity is immense 

Creativity was pushed heavily during the marketing for this game and was the focus of many interviews by people associated with the game and rightly so because this game has taken creativity to the next level, the amount you achieve in such little time is scary (but in a good way). All the creations that have been retained from the previous game have been improved, creating a custom superstar is now more fun because there are more things you can do to make him/her unique to you, and you do feel when you finish making your superstar that he is something unique as special. Creating a move set for your new created superstar has also changed for the better and there are now new categories for moves such as Royal Rumble special moves and Ladder special moves.

These improvements continue throughout all the creative option so I will move on the what is new creativity wise and that is the ability to create your very own story. Anybody who grew watching the old WWF with the legends such as The Rock, Austin, Angle, Michaels, Guerrero, Hogan etc would have dreamed of making their own matches and story lines with their favourite wrestlers and in this game you can. You can have any modern day superstar enter into a story line against any other, you could have kane trying to take his brothers streak at Wrestlemania, or you can have John Cena turn heel a rebel against the fans who have booed him for so long by taking out superstars, the possibilities are endless in this regard. 

Many of the improvements I've mentioned in regards to this game have been technical, such as the camera angles or the fighting mechanics but where this game begins to fall down is not with the technicals but with the fundamentals and this brings me to the Road To Wrestlemania (RTW) mode, which for those of you who aren't family with WWE games is essentially the main story mode, it tends to pick certain superstars and play out a story with them which climaxes with a match at Wrestlemania for said character and this year isn't much different, except for one small change, they have completely ruined it. I will call the Road to Wrestlemania

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My verdict on this game is one that I found hard to come to, I mean how do you view a game that has such a bad fundamental problem but has so many great improvements, its like looking a new sports car, it has massive shiny rims, a neat body kit, 200mph on the clock but has no doors or steering wheel. I just can't overlook such a big issue and I promise to always be honest about every game I review so in my honest opinion the flaw in the story mode is too bigger obstacle to over look so I must say I'm disappointed in this game.


7.1/10                                Buy or Rent .... Rent 

Witcher 2 Trailer

The Witcher 2 is a unique game for me, as it is currently just a PC exclusive I haven't played it all but I've always kept a close eye on it in regards to trailers before it came out on pc and then videos of the game being played and it really does appeal to me I don't know what it is about this game but it just looks so good visually. Now that this game is finally coming to the Xbox on the 14th of April I am left wondering how good it actually is, but with the release of this new trailer my hopes for this game have not been dinted and instead heightened.

On a side note, on the blog a couple of days ago I put a Soul Calibur trailer up to be viewed and before that The Darkness 2 trailer and it has come to my attention recently that the quality of trailers for new games is at an all time high, gone are the days with the poor CGI and the stereotypical epic voice, they have been replaced by well thought out dynamic trailers that really do market video games perfectly and it can be said that these days there is not too much difference between movie trailers and game trailers. 

Resident Evil 6 Update

I have stated before Resident Evil 6 is a game that I'm very much looking forward to and is very prominent on my radar so I will continue to follow this game closely and bring all of you updates regarding this game.

It has been announced recently by Capcom themselves that this is the biggest game they have ever worked on, executive producer for the game Hiroyuki Kobayashi stated that "this is by far the largest scale production Capcom has ever embarked on" and went on to say that "we have more than 600 people involved" and says that Resident Evil 6 is "the most ambitious" in the series.

This is just another little piece of news in a long line of Resi 6 news that is making my excitement for this game go through the roof, and I thoroughly think that this game will be the king of the horror genre and will sky away from the efforts of Resi 5 but instead create a unique and dynamic survival horror game that will put the Resident Evil series has a whole back on the map.

Soulcalibur 5 Trailer

Contact Me

I've had some people asking how they can contact me to discuss certain things gaming wise or to comment on the blog but don't know how to, there is a contact me part on the blog but its at the bottom and obscured slightly so I'm going to do a quick post just to let everyone know how they can contact me, and I welcome anyone who wants to message me or write to me in any way and I will always respond.

Follow me on;

Xbox Xtrem3KilleR (XKR are capitals)

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/Tompollardss
                     
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Mobile 07531551211

Hopefully this will clear things up and I'll look forward to hearing everyones opinion

New Xbox Coming 2013

720 is only the rumoured name, others include Xbox Next, and Xbox Loop

I must first off start by saying this is only a rumour but its one of them rumours that is leaked straight from a source close to the developmental heart of the new Xbox so its essentially a fact. The successor to the highly rated Xbox 360 console will hit the shelves around the October-November period in 2013 and there will two models available at the start, a lesser version that will be cheaper but not as powerful or a fully fledge gaming behemoth that will contain Kinect as standard.

Xbox "720" GPU

Technical details have already started to come out beginining with the announcement off the GPU, which will be similar to the Radeon HD6670 and will be at least six times for powerful than the current generation edition, it will support DirectX11, 1080p HD, multi-display output and 3D. The GPU is said to be twenty percent more powerful than the Wii U which is using the R770 chip.

Obviously no price as yet been announced but you can imagine that you will be shelling out at least 300 notes come 2013, most likely more but I am so excited for this I'm starting my 720 fund right now

The Darkness 2

The new trailer for The Darkness 2, realsed early Febuary, has got the be trailer of the year so far, it views like a hybrid of the Underworld and Matrix films, this has got me very excited for the game and is an example of a successful game trailer.

Resident Evil 6 Announced

Release date - November 2012

The announcement of the new game in the Resident Evil series at Capcom's big 15th anniversary event in Japan already has me beaming with excitement to play this game, the horror genre has a massive appeal to me in all forms of media, be it films, literature and obviously video games and the Resident Evil series has lead the way in terms of horror for nearly 10 years now, constantly bringing out brilliant games and constantly changing how survival horror games are made. 

A game that will go down in history 

To fully understand a Resident Evil fans excitement for this game you first have to turn the clock back a couple of years, 11 January 2005 to be exact, the release date of my favourite horror survival game of all time and one of the greatest games ever made, Resident Evil 4. The impact that Resident Evil 4 had on the gaming industry is somewhat unbelievable, it completely redefined an entire genre and would have a lasting effect in the horror video game market, you can see clear influences from this game in many games that have come out since and you will continue to see these influences in games to come.

Resident Evil 6 will feature Leon has a main protagonist which will excite fans of the series greatly, he will be joined by a new character named Helena Harper along with the returning Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5). The game will be set 10 years after the now famous events of raccoon city.

Co-op will be a big part of the game.

In the last couple of days it has been discovered that there will be 2-8 player online co-op, which itself suggest a larger scale to this game than that of the largely disappointing Resident Evil 5. Survival and horror games often benefit from having more than one human player because the tension and fear radiate off the two players to create some amazing gaming moments, for example the first time you see the big boss in Resi 5.

 

The biggest question is can Resident Evil regain its survival horror crown? and if so how? Since Resident Evil 4 there have been many good horror games that have changed the landscape of the horror genre on the 360, the Dead Space series is the best example, this series proved to all doubters that you can still create a genuinely scary and suspenseful game play experience while still being able to move whilst shooting. This is the one biggest complaint about the series, it doesn't bother me significantly but I can see why it would bother others and I think it either has to go or has to be greatly redefined, that specific game play mechanic is made to look ancient and outdated by games such as the afore mention Dead Space series and Alan Wake.

I have no doubt that this series can once again be the king of survival horrors, it has the pedigree, the history and the fanbase but the developers need to realise that its 2012 now not 2005, the game needs to be modernised and needs to bring something new to the table whilst still keeping the charm that all Resi games have, so do I think this game can be a success? .. Hell yes 

Battlefield 3 Review

The market for first person shooters is never ending; it’s a genre that has pretty much taken over the gaming industry and we are practically forced to put up with this unimaginative and stale genre. Especially when we consider the military shooter, and when I say ‘the military shooter’ we all know which one I’m talking about. So when we do bring ourselves round to play something that only adds to this crowded market it really has to be unique, interesting and impressive. Inevitably we must compare it to the aforementioned ‘military shooter’ (I dare not say its name in case I incur the wrath of fan boys, so from now on I shall refer to it as Salmon: Modern Fishing 3) and with this in mind it’s possible to say that Battlefield may have just blown it out of the water.

Paradoxically to this Battlefield’s story is a complete flop; you have your typical Russian terrorist plot to destroy western civilisation and urgh, BORING. I simply long for a game that will depict the true threat to the world, forget Russians, forget Muslim extremists, in fact a man standing directly in front of you with a serrated knife is less of a threat than this menace. So who is it? Greggs of course and their pastry filled world domination. They are intent on bankrupting and destroying the economy by charging extra for a little plastic bag! Such evil will not go unpunished... Anyway this is beside the point; Battlefield’s story should have been fantastic what with Andy McNab writing it. Unfortunately however, it fails to portray any emotion or drama. Venture into the levels and you’ll find that the AI is clumsy but somehow incredibly accurate when firing weapons. In one level you find yourself atop a roof, its night time and you’re about 250 meters away from the nearest enemy so there is very little chance of getting spotted, or so you would think. Firing one round suddenly alerts everyone to your position and you find yourself constantly hiding behind cover because every time you pop your head over the wall you end up looking like Swiss cheese, suffice to say it wasn’t an enjoyable game play experience. Considering this there are one or two stand out moments that will cause your heart to beat a tad faster, driving a tank across the desert is a moment that stuck out, hence why EA decided to use this part in the E3 demo last year. In all, the single player mode should be considered as a training ground for the bigger picture which is of course the multiplayer.

Some major renovations have been to the already stellar multiplayer that we experienced in earlier renditions of Battlefield (The Bad Company series). No matter what you do in the game you will be rewarded, so if you are the person that simply enjoys providing support you will be rewarded for it, if you are a reconnaissance/sniper lover then you’ll find it more than suitable, if you want to go all in guns blazing then you will be rewarded handsomely for that too. One little game play element I’ve found enjoyable is suppressing fire, if bullets are being fired towards you, your screen will go blurry and aiming is made a lot harder. This makes LMG’s particularly joyful to use as their large ammo boxes allow you to suppress an enemy for extended periods of time. Parts can also be connected to almost any gun, the laser sight and flashlight both act as disorientations and are a welcome addition to the already bursting arsenal. Of course you have your typical selection of sights, bipods and grips to attach too but consider that there are more than 50 guns in the game and it really allows for some deep customisation, making no two players completely similar. In some aspects Battlefield has borrowed some mechanics from the ‘Salmon’ franchise. This can be seen with their perk system which allows a variety of abilities from sprinting faster to carrying more ammunition or in regards to vehicles it’ll allow different machine guns to be fitted to your tank to heat seeking missile deterrents on your helicopter of jet. To further this, once you have achieved a certain level, you gain the ability to share these perks with your squad members, allowing others to benefit from your awesomeness. The selection of game modes are small but suitable, you have your typical team death match mode which is quite fun but it’s most likely you’ll be playing the other more exciting game modes consisting of ‘conquest’ which requires you to capture multiple flags in order to dominate the enemy and secondly there is ‘rush’ which will have you capturing two com’ stations at a time, once they are destroyed you move on to the next pair and so on. What makes these game modes so enjoyable is the option to use vehicles in multiplayer, an aspect that few console gamers have really experienced (bar Halo and other Battlefield games). Tanks, 4x4’s and boats are all reasonably easy to handle however aircraft have a bit of a learning curve; this is good however as it encourages players to grow in skill and dexterity. Obviously it would be useless having such vehicles on a small map, so there are at least three very large maps where vehicles are available, it’s just a matter of first come first serve so you’d better get to them quick! To sum it up the multiplayer will most definitely have you hooked and it’s a long time since I’ve been able to say that.

Sound wise Battlefield really puts you into the centre of the action, footsteps and shouts echo when inside a building, engines roar and guns feel like they pack some real power. I recommend using some good quality headphones when playing this game as it greatly helps in pin pointing the locations of enemies, so you will be able to hear someone sneaking up on you.

Graphics are another great aspect of the game, there is little to no frame rate drop, lighting is superb (look into the sun and you’ll get a nice glare effect). Characters have good animations especially when you consider the knife assassinations, although it must be said using a knife isn’t particularly useful and it’s a little clumsy, you’re better off just using your gun in a close combat situation. What I have found incredibly disappointing however is the lack of destruction compared to previous instalments. Very few buildings fall to the floor even after taking a terrible beating and some walls are virtually impenetrable. Saying this though, ‘Salmon: Modern Fishing 3’ couldn’t even hope to replicate the destruction already in this game so it still stays on the positive side of the list so to speak.

To summarise the single player gets a thumb down from me, it’s an uninteresting storyline and generally uninspired, ‘been there done that’ springs to mind. Multiplayer however gets a massive thumbs up, it’s thrilling, challenging, addictive and quite simply brilliant. It makes it an even better buy when you consider the recently released DLC that updates the maps from Battlefield’s exclusively PC gaming days. Battlefield 3 may just be another FPS but it’s one that has the credentials to keep you playing it.

Written by Alex Foster

"If you enjoyed this review check out his other reviews at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mini-Game-Reviews/216047165076699"

SOPA is Dead

SOPA is finally dead

Its a good week for internet freedom, the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act has been postponed "indefinietly".

The fact that this legislation has been buried is a victory for freedom of speech and proof that your voice makes the difference, trust me all of you who took to Twitter, Facebook and generally any forum are a massive part of why this has been killed. I said in my last couple of posts about SOPA that the opposition was continuing to grow and would eventually become too big for the powers that be to ignore it and that is exactly what has happened, when internet uses and internet corporations join forces to fight something they can never be beat, think about it, millions of people are online and when you collide that with the power of Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia  just in terms of hits that they get daily its clear that they have massive influence.

I think its clear that the people pushing the bill catastrophically underestimated the power of the internet, to put it into Hollywood movie terms "the internet struck back." You may be saying to yourself now "wont something like SOPA just re-emerge once the dust has settled?" I don't think it will, there will be a lesson learnt from this ordeal and some very powerful people will know what they face if they try to do anything like this again, bloggers like me, video creators, music creators anyone who is creating content will fight to keep the freedom of speech intact and now we know that the biggest internet sites in the world will be on our side, we know that we have the power.

Anonymous are feared

One final reason why this is unlikely to come back is a very secretive reason, one that people won't mention often, we have another ally, a secret ally who will always fight to keep the freedom of speech and will go head to head with even the FBI if neccesary, they fear no one and are our strongest ally, they are no one, they are Anonymous ...

5 Best Video Game Songs of All Time

Skyrim Main Theme

Portal Still Alive

Metal Gear Solid 4 Love Theme

Final Fantasy XIII Liberi Fatali 

Halo 3 Theme Song

Fifa 12 Video Review

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More video reviews coming soon

Modern Warfare 3

Highs

Exciting Cinematic Storyline

Spec Ops Integration

Fast Paced Combat

Lows

Short Campaign

Stale Multi-player 

No New Innovation.

The Modern Warfare branch of the call of duty series has always been seen as the better part of the series by most gamers, so there was a certain level of excitement for this game in the months prior to its release. The original Modern Warfare is the best online shooter to date on the Xbox 360 in my opinion, everything about that game was new and fresh, and that game did genuinely change the FPS genre to a great extent, this is evident with how many games have tried to replicate its success but failed, also it is thanks to that game that the Call of Duty series become the highest selling series of this generation.

Killstreaks have crippled the series

The foundation of the Modern Warfare series is perfect, its what has been put on the foundation which is the problem. Modern Warfare 2 first introduced the entire killstreak "problem", killstreaks were in the original Modern Warfare but were unique at the time and were balanced perfectly, but in the games that followed they were over powerful which ultimately lead to the Call of Duty series' biggest problem, theyre not based on skill any more, but I'll discuss this problem later in the review, to start with I want to begin positively.

The storyline is a very mixed bag but I'll start of with what it does right, the actual feel of the combat when moving through the campaign is excellent, it is slick, fluid and fast paced which helps to give you a adrenaline fuelled experince when fighting in all the games locations. Explosive spectacles have been a feature of all the Modern Warfare campaigns and this one doesn't disappoint, the fight will take you all around the world, from London to New York you will be literally taking the world by storm. Don't for a second think that this game has toned down the explosiveness of the campaign, the series has never been scared the push the boundries of what is exceptable but this game takes that to a whole new level, I won't spoil the story but lookout for one of the best spectacles i've ever seen in a game towards the end of the campaign, if you want to know what this is highlight the following blacked out text, (London Bombing). 


The main two problems with the story that stop it from getting the credit it would otherwise deserve are that the campaign is entirely too short and is unbelievably clichéd. I played this game straight through on the highest difficulty as I do for most COD games but still I got through it in only a couple of sittings, you could complete this game on easy in about 5-6 hours and for a game of this calibre that is unacceptable. In gaming you accept a certain level of cliché because it is incredibly hard to be completely original in this modern age but this game takes it to the extreme, go and watch any war film or think of any you have seen before and this game will have elements of that film in it, especially the cliché that the Russians are always the bad guys looking to start a world war or bomb a city.

Survival mode is a welcome new feature

The game is split into 3 main sections, you have the story, (covered above) the spec ops mode and then the multiplayer. Spec Ops was first introduced in Modern Warfare 2 and was without a doubt my favourite part on that game, it was the only part of that game that was in the least bit inventive. Spec Ops makes its grand return in MW3, featuring several improvements, such as more missions, more variety to the missions and a Spec Ops survival mode, all these improvements once again make Spec Ops an excellent part of the franchise and I can easily see it been made into a full game once the COD series dies down.

But finally onto the part everyone wants to know about, the part that gets people to buy the latest COD game every year and the part that has made the COD series so much money and that is the multiplayer. The multiplayer in MW3 is amazing uninspiring and a massive disappointment, this is the year that the COD multiplayer had a real competitor in Battlefield 3 and MW3 has been blown completely out of the water by the Battlefield online experience, in nearly every way Battlefield's multiplayer is superior and has shown some severe limitations that the COD games have. Whilst COD forces you into small maps where you have to fight in straight lines Battlefield allows you to go where you want and fight in large open spaces and fight in any style and no just camp like everyone on MW3 seems to do. The problems with the MW3 multiplayer are unfixable in my opinion, the multiplayer hasn't changed for 3 games, MW2, BLOPS and MW3 are essentially the same game, they all look the same, play the same and have all the same problems.
 "this is the year that the COD multiplayer had a real competitor in Battlefield 3 and MW3 has been blown completely out of the water by the Battlefield online experience"

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The main most prominent problem that the MW3 multiplayer has is that it is not based on skill in the slightest, anyone can do well on that game by exploiting the perks and killstreak systems, to prove my point do a little test the next time you play MW3, start the game with no killstreaks or just don't use the killstreaks when you get them and see how well you actually do and I think you will be surprised how poor you are at the game in reality. People who play the COD series cannot do well in the Battlefield series yet people who play Battlefield can walk into the COD online experience and dominate and thats because to play Battlefield you need skill and tactics, not silly perks or killstreaks.

For me this game is part of a dying series, a series that has been killed by unoriginality and a lack of creativity, and was inferior to Battlefield 3 in nearly every way, and with Rainbow 6 Patriots and Far Cry 3 coming out in 2012 I can't see Call of Duty ever regaining its crown.

6.8/10                                Buy/Rent....Rent

Make Your Voice Heard - Stop SOPA

This is just a quick post to say to anyone reading this blog that you can make a difference in this SOPA farce.

Wikipedia has started its 24 hour blackout and I strongly urge everyone to go onto there page and follow the links to show your support on Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Don't keep you opinions to yourself, you have a voice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Bodycount Review

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Wikipedia to "Black out" in Anti-SOPA protest

As I predicted the opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is just getting stronger and stronger by the day, with Google, Twitter and Facebook already opposing the law it has been revealed that internet giants Wikipedia will black out its englsih language site for 24 hours in protest of the legislation.

During the black out readers will only be able to read information about SOPA and the Protect Intellectual  Property Act (PIPA), and this information will urge readers to contact their local congressman and vote against the two bills. To put into perspective how powerful the opposition is now getting just the english language Wikiepdia gets a reported 25 million hits a day, couple this with the millions that Google and the rest get there is a significant amount of people lining up against this bill.

I said it before and I'm saying it again, this legislation cannot be allowed to happen, and more influencial people and companies will come out against the bill, the opposition is growing daily.

More SOPA updates to come.

Skyrim

Highs

Amazing Open World

Stunning Graphics

Complex Combat

Lows

Glitches

Repetitive Side Quests

Unintelligent NPC's 

To fully review this game with the detail that it deserves I first have to look back at its predecessor Oblivion, Oblivion was one of the games that truly showed off what the 360 was capable of, it was a game that took the Xbox experience up to the next level, yes there were many problems with the game but the game showed that a massive open world with thousands of NPC's was possible and could be done to create an excellent video game. This of course was in 2006, the Xbox has come on so much since then and so much more is possible, developers really are maxing out the capability of the Xbox to create wonderful games, so I like everyone else was asking myself what can we expect from Skyrim and how far has the series come on from Oblivion. As you can expect my level of excitement for this game was through the roof.

Upon starting your game you have a scene where you are imprisoned for an unexplained crime like in most Elder Scrolls games, this is where you can choose what class you want to be, their are a range of classes that offer different bonuses and styles and each have their own combat style, although it is important to note that you can sculpt your character to be how you want so the decision you make is not critically important, if you choose an High Elf like I did you are not restricted to just using magic. You escape from your imprisonment and are free to begin your journey into Skyrim. 

Explore the world right from the off

As ever I like to start with a positive aspect although this isn't hard with a game as good as this, one of the things that impresses me personally about this game is that after you complete the prologue level at the beginning the game just says to you "go and have fun", nearly the entire game world is open to you from the start of the game, if you don't want to do the main quest then just don't, go visit a city or explore a cave it is entirely up to you, in this game you are free to make your own choices and decisions. 

If you remember back to Oblivion the variety in the combat was their but it felt very clunky and odd, in Skyrim the combat has been improved tremendously, there are so many different ways you can approach an enemy, you can get on a platform above him and rain down arrows onto him like a scene from 300 or you can sneak up behind him like Jason Bourne and strike him quickly with a dagger, you could just simply walk right up to him and hit him with a combination of fire and ice, in fact you don't have to fight him at all you could just conjure up a zombie to fight for you. A massive theme of this game is freedom, you have nearly complete freedom, you could spend 10 hours on this game just walking around and exploring one small part of the map. I won't talk too much about dragon shouts as I don't want to spoil anything but these are another combat option.

A lot of time you spent in Skyrim will be spent in various different caves and dungeons, exploring and completing quests, in Oblivion there was one designer who designed all the caves and dungeons but for Skyrim their was 8, this means that the areas you explore will be massively different but more impressively they will be massively detailed, each area you go into will have different pieces of loot to find, different books to read and different enemies and mini bosses to fight, you will spend a lot of hours in dungeons, I've put 160 hours into the game and I've still got quests left, but you will not get bored there is always more to explore, this game gives you so much at the offset but still managers to surprise you and mix it up, even 100 hours into the game.

Skyrim Skill Tree

The way that you level up in Skyrim is one of the best level up systems I have seen in any game before, it is unbelievably versatile, you are never burdened to one way of playing, you can start the game using magic with light armour and then 80 hours in you can say to yourself I'm not enjoying this any more, and put on some heavy armour and equip a two handed weapon and you will start levelling those stats up, I've never played a game before that has a level up system as versatile and complex as this one. Within each skill there are perks that can be accessed through spending points you get when you level up, you can again spend these points how you desire, you can put some points into sneaking and get a perk that allows you to run silently, or you can put your points into destruction and then get a perk where casting a destruction spell costs half magicka.

 "I've never played a game before that has a level up system as versatile and complex as this one" 

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There is an elephant in the room when discussing this game though and that it the amount of glitches, I played this game on the 360 so I haven't experienced how bad the glitches where on the PS3 so I can't comment on them but it is well documented how broken the PS3 version of this game was, I don't know if its been patched now or not. Luckily I played through the game (160 hours worth) and never experience any game breaking glitches like I know many people have, game files corrupting seems to be the worst glitch that is happening to people, the only glitches I had where graphics popping and people sinking into the floor or floating into the air.

Skyrim is an amazing achievement, like Oblivion it is a showcase of what the Xbox can do and how far it has come since its launch, the visually stunning visuals, massive open world and brilliant soundtrack all add up to make an amazing experience.

9.2/10                                Buy or Rent .... Buy 

One of the amazing songs found in this game

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Demo First Impressions

This is a practise/preview video so I can get used to game narration and videogame capturing, along with the software. These are my first impressions of Final Fantasy XIII.

The Week's Biggest News Story - SOPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA as its widely known has again dominated the gaming news this week, with hundreds of articles being published both supporting it and condemning it. The bill essentially gives the U.S powers that be the right to issue court orders against websites that they believe have infringed copyright. Its important to realise that this type of legislation has been attempted before, for example there was, and I think still is, a similar bill in Australia but is based more on censoring the entire internet, and also their is the most famous example of internet censorship which is China where the internet has been censored.

You may be thinking why do so many companies and people oppose something that is trying to stop piracy essentially, well this is the problem it isn't, looking again at China you can see by there attempt at internet censorship that it doesn't just effect the pirates it effects everyone. In SOPA's case it has such strong opposition because most people believe that it just won't work, and I am one of them, it won't stop game piracy it will just harm and effect innocent parties.

Bungie oppose SOPA

Some massive names in the gaming industry and some massive online companies have stepped up and opposed the bill, Bungie one of the biggest gaming companies in the work and creators of the Halo series have come out as anti SOPA, Bungie wrote on their website their opinions of the bill "a messy piece of legislation", along with Bungie, Epic Games (Gears of War) Riot Games (League of Legends) and Mojang (Minecraft) have all opposed the highly controversial legislation. Among the internet companies who oppose the legislation are; Google, Facebook, and Twitter, these are some of the biggest names on the internet and some of the most popular sites, with the big names in gaming and online that are now oppose to this deal, and also more that are opposing SOPA everyday, their is a strong opposition to this bill and the power of the opposition is growing, an example of the power growing is the fact Barrack Obama has addressed the issue. If this legislation does get passed it has one hell of an opposition to get though
"Barrack Obama has addressed the issue"

The main problem with SOPA is that the positive effects that it says it will have are not guaranteed and their is a real possibility that it won't work at all, but the side effects that the legislation will have are guaranteed so for this reason I have also oppose SOPA. The most important thing people like you and me have to realise is that we can help stop this, even if its just going to Twitter or Facebook and expressing your views, or going to certain stop SOPA websites and giving them your support it really does help.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Demo Trailer

I can't help but be excited for this, even though there's a lot of negativity surrounding it, it still just looks visually so good.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Holiday Numbers Down

Sales of Modern Warfare 3 are down 452,000 compared to Black Ops over the same period last year

Maybe its finally happening, the beginning of the end for the utterly dull Call of Duty series, each year Infinite-Ward and Treyarch churn out another unimaginative, uninspiring edition to the COD series and each year gamers buy them up day one with no rational thought or research into the quality of the game, but maybe Modern Warfare 3 was a step too far. 

This (November 8 - December 31) is the first time that the sales of a COD game have not sold more than the previous years edition, over the time period written above Treyarch's Black Ops sold 3,266,298 whilst Modern Warfare 3 only sold 2,814,298 units. Obviously I'm getting a bit ahead of myself as this is still a very large amount and Modern Warfare 3 has sold an unbelievable amount of copies and was, according to the NPD group, the highest selling game of 2011, so on this basis the series is still fine but this still could be an important event because maybe gamers are waking up from their COD dream and starting to realise the problems the series now has.

I'm aware that it seems like I'm just another COD hater but I'm not and my sadness for the series in its current condition is born out of my love for what the series used to be, the original Modern Warfare changed the way online first person shooters were made and is now an iconic game in gaming history along with being my favourite FPS of all time, and following this you had World at War which again was a really good game that captured the era perfectly and added a few new elements to the series such as the ever popular Nazi Zombies, but from then on I lost interest in the series and in my opinion there has been no positive additions gameplay wise to the series from this point forward. For me there is no obvious difference between MW2, Black Ops and MW3, they all look pretty much the same, all feel the same and all rely far too much on killstreaks, perks etc. and shy away from the raw skill of the player, which is what made the original Modern Warfare such a classic because it had the perfect balance.

I think the series can still be saved if they start to the re imagine the series and come up with fresh ideas, but because of the amount of money they are making from using this yearly model I can't see this happening so I think this may well indeed be the first step in Call of Duty's downfall.

News on the new "Need for Speed" and "Medal of Honour" sequels leaked

The store who's Twitter account is responsible for the leak

The U.K video game outlet "Game" has apparently leaked information on their official Twitter account that their is to be another Need for Speed game (surprise surprise, wonder how many their are in that franchise now..) but more interestingly a reboot of the Medal of Honour franchise.

The Twitter comment has naturally been taken down and EA refuse to comment on speculation, but the fact that the comment was posted by someone who was apparently on a trip to EA gives it enough credence for me to be interested. 

My opinions of these two games are complete polar opposites, on one hand you have ANOTHER Need for Speed game, which seems to be a yearly thing now, but on the other you have a genuinely exciting game that will enter a market alongside the unbelievably stale COD franchise and the exciting but slightly flawed Battlefield franchise, so their is genuine potential for this game to be a success.

Maybe I am being a little harsh on Need for Speed though, I, like most people, used to love the Need for Speed series back in the ps2 days and even the early 360 versions, but disappointments like the Shift branch of their franchise and the failed attempt at bringing back their former glory that was Undercover have severely damaged their reputation in many gamers eyes. Unfortunately I haven't yet played The Run so can't offer my opinion on that but I've had a lot of negative feed back from friends who picked the game up day one. I will keep my eye on this game as more information develops but my interest level currently sits at a 5/10 level, if they can take aspects of Hot Pursuit and combine that with new ideas or revert to their old style games then it may have potential.

A return to the old style Need for Speeds could revitalise the series

On the other hand to Need for Speed I am incredibly excited for the new Medal of Honour (if the leak is legit) I truly believe it can add something new to the genre, and incredibly I actually wouldn't mind a return to WW2, a couple of years ago this era was condemned in the gaming world by various gaming communities as being stale and having no more potential but in the last couple of years certainly the pendulum seems to have swung the other way and now I feel their is a gap in the market for a return to that era, so in this regard the timing of the game is perfect. Medal of Honour has been overlooked and underrated to me, in 2007 you had Airborne which at the time reviewed quite well but was completely over shadowed by the original Modern Warfare, which made Airborne slip into the wilderness pretty much straight away, but their are things that can be took from that game which were good gameplay features, such as the jumping from the plane to start the mission or the large battleground within most missions.

Airborne had a lot of good ideas that could be used in the new game

Medal of Honour 2010 was a massive disappointment for me which leads me onto my main concern about this new game, the developers need to stray away from this type of game which essentially was just a combination of the COD and Battlefield series's done poorly and without imagination, they need to draw inspiration from their older games and hopefully not set the game in a modern world because then you are in direct competition with said franchises and the new Medal of Honour won't stand a chance going up against these behemoths. 

It will be interesting to see these two games develop and see what creative direction they take.  

Fight Night Champion

Highs

Interesting story mode

Improved graphics

Complex fighting mechanic

Lows

Story too short

Unrealistic damage

Too many on rails sections

The Fight Night series has always been one of those series that grabs my attention as soon as one of their games enter development, but before I fully start my review I feel its important to state that I am a massive Boxing fan, which means that some aspects of the game that a lot of people would find annoying and tedious I actually found to be a valuable part of the game, and also I'm aware of the fact that whether your a fan of Boxing will inevitably have the largest impact on your decision to pick this up or not.

Main Protagonist

I always like to start on a positive note so this being the case the first thing I'd like to mention is "Champion Mode" which is Fight Nights attempt at a real boxing story, the story puts you in the shoes of a young boxer named Andre Bishop who is serving time in a correctional facility, he starts off fighting in the jail and then the story goes on to the point where he becomes a professional boxer, I won't give too much of the story away but its essentially a Rocky styled rise to glory, with constant peaks and troughs throughout. The story is one of the games main successes, from my knowledge their isn't another boxing game that has attempted to create a real and believable narrative so the fact they are pioneering a new direction for the entire genre has to be applauded.

 "their isn't another boxing game that has attempted to create a real and believable narrative" 

Visually this game is something special, the likeness of the boxers is nearly perfect, even down to the tattoos and scars, when each punch lands you see the sweat and blood spill from the boxer in a visually stunning fashion. Its not just the boxers that look amazing though the arenas used in this game are just as good, the arenas have massive amounts of detail and you can tell that a lot of work was put in by the developers to create a vibrant place to fight in. 

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There are several aspects that stop this game being the "GOAT" in the genre though, one glaring aspect is that while the story is innovative and daring it is entirely too short, you can easily get through it in one sitting and couple this with the fact it has no real replay value means that the game will struggle it keep its way off the pre-owned shelf.

Ultimately this game is the best boxing game you can buy on the 360 but the competition it has is so poor that this title is not an hard thing to gain, their are promising parts of the game such as the game engine itself which is capable of stunning realism and fluid animation, but their are parts where more work could have been done, maybe if the devs had a few more months to work on this they could have made the story mode longer and improved other aspects of the game that would have made it better but this not being the case we have to face the reality that to boxing fans like myself this game didn't live up to the potential it had. 

6.5/10                             Buy or Rent ..... Rent