Phantasy Star - Sega Master System

The words 'Great' and 'Greatest' get tossed around quite often.
But few and far between are the times that these adjectives are used in a way that really befits what is being described.
When I think of the word 'greatest', I think of something remarkably out of the ordinary, the best thing available at a particular time.
But when we make comparisons between things of different times, there's only one way of determining who or what is greatest, and that is to measure each to it's contemporaries, and seeing to what degree or magnitude it surmounts them.
If we take that into account, then Phantasy Star could very well be the greatest RPG of all time.



Graphics 9

The graphics in Phantasy Star simply destroyed anything ever seen on a console. It is simply unfair to compare this to any other games of the time.
The game features bright, colourful graphics that complement the well-drawn sprites and backgrounds. The view shifted from the usual over the top view, to an impressive first person view every time that you talked to a person or fought against a monster.
The monsters had several frames of animation, making them look realistic and sometimes making people say: “damn, that thing looks scary”. But without a doubt, the most impressive graphical effect on Phantasy Star were the 3D dungeons.
Also in first person view, this is one of those things that had to be seen at the time that the game was released to really appreciate how much splendid they were.
The mazes all looked the same, but the scrolling was so smooth that you really couldn't stop staring at it.

Graphics do not make a game, but in these case it really gave you a “being there” feeling that, again, was unmatched by any other game of it's time



Gameplay 10

Ahhhh, so we arrive to that most important element of a video game. Everything that's written in this review would mean nothing if the game didn't have good gameplay.
Fortunately for all of us, it does have the gameplay to match and even surpass the games other attributes.
The first gameplay element that you are going to notice is the absolutely brilliant blending of mythology with science fiction. I really get a kick out of fighting Medusa with laser guns. The other thing that you are going to notice right away is the difficulty of the game.

The first couple of times that you get out of the city you will probably get ripped apart by a couple of scorpions and you'll have to start over again.
You really need to level up by fighting only the weakest monsters until you reach at least level 4 or 5 before you can do any adventuring. The thing you can do is to talk to the all the people in the towns.
That is absolutely essential to play the game. You see, unlike modern RPG’s, Phantasy Star is a thinking man's game. You are not going to get a 5-minute FMV detailing exactly what you have to do.
You have to write everything down and analyse what they tell you so you can figure out by yourself how to continue your adventure. Don't get me wrong, this is not one of those games that you are going to feel totally clueless about what you have to do, but it will certainly give your brain cells some exercise.

A good thing about the game is that the characters do not have lots of stats like dexterity or stuff like that, in fact it's rather simple, as it should be: You kill monsters, once you do that you gain money so you can buy things, and experience points which will level you up and make you stronger.
This simplicity gives you the freedom to concentrate on the game and the adventure instead of technical things like stats.

The gameplay spans not one, but three planets, each one with a unique climate (á la Star Wars), and you travel to the different planet in your own spaceship.
Once on the planet, there are three other vehicles available, one to explore the land, another to explore the waters and another one to explore and dig through the ice.

As you explore the vast areas of the game and fight monsters, you will have several options. You can attack them with your weapons or with magic, you can run (sometimes they will block your retreat), or you can talk to them. Yes!!! Some of the monsters you encounter can help you through the game, but only a small percentage of monsters will understand you, so don't use that as your primary option during battles.
If one of your party members does get killed in one of the fights, you can go to the church and the bishop will gladly resurrect him/her.



Sound 8

The sound and music is another aspect of the game that sometimes is overlooked. There are no bleeps and beeps here, weapons sounded different from each other (especially satisfying were the Laconian weapons), and the different actions you did in the game had their respectively fitting, well done sounds.
The music also features some catchy tunes, and like the sound effects, it perfectly fits every occasion. The battle music gave you that uneasy feeling that you were in danger; rustic villages had a more pastoral sound to them, as opposed to the cities that had high tech, futuristic music. And the dungeons songs, very much like the battle songs, really made you think: “I'd rather not be in here”.
Overall, this is a very enjoyable game to listen to.



Story 7.5

The game starts with a cut-scene of a man named Nero dying on a street, killed because he was “sniffing around” the evil Lassic’s affairs.
As he dies, he tells his sister Alis that Lassic is leading their world to destruction, and that although it's too late for him, she and a man of great strength named Odin can stop Lassic. So she embarks on a quest to avenge her brother’s death and save the Algol star system.

It’s not the greatest story to ever grace a video game, but when compared to other early-days RPG’s, who offered generic heroes, Phantasy Star had well developed characters:
Alis, the heroine, who seeks to avenge her brother’s death; Myau, an intelligent cat-like animal who helps her in her travels; Odin a great warrior who wishes freedom to all, and
Noah, a skilled magician who accompanies them.
Each one of those characters were unique, with different personalities and motivations for their quest.
So you felt you were there, a part of the team, not just someone manipulating a moving sprite on a screen. All of that may seem regular now, but back then in 1988, it was easily the most involving storyline an RPG had had and it even manages to hold its own today.



Overall 9

Phantasy Star is not just a game, it's an epic experience that has to be lived by anyone who considers himself a gamer.
Even though its graphics, story, and other aspects have been surpassed by other games (It took them years to do that), no other game has had such a perfect combination of all these elements. That is what makes Phantasy Star such an unsurpassed classic.

F.E.A.R. trilogy - PS3, PC, Xbox 360

I've just finished whupping F.E.A.R. 3 or "F.3.A.R as it says on the game case, so I thought I'd run through the entire trilogy in this weeks review update. I must add though, that since this is a review of the trilogy, there will be spoilers to the predecessor games if you have yet to play them.

F.E.A.R.



When I first saw this game, I was immediately intrigued. What I knew about it was shrouded in mystery, but what I did hear about it were good things.
When I finally bought, played, and was amazed by the shear velocity of everything in the game. Now, I feel inclined to share my fair opinion of this great game.
Released in 2005 originally on PC and ported to consoles later, this action-horror masterpiece has done the rounds and never failed to scare and excite each time.



Graphics 9

First off, I just can't believe the other scores people have been giving the graphics section of this game. Scores were sometimes lower then they deserve, and the justifications for the sub-par score seem silly. Let me assure you: The graphics of F.E.A.R. are godly.

Seriously, these graphics rank right up there with the big boys of it's day like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. They are that good.
The gun in your hand, the opponents coming to kill you, the backgrounds of your environment, the horrific terrors that attempt to stop your mission, EVERYTHING looks gorgeous and smooth.
I mean, if food was graphics, F.E.A.R. would be serving the 5-star food. As you might know, this game uses a lot horror elements.
Well the environs are definitely assisted by the amazing use of lights and shadows to keep you guessing at what is around the next corner. Lights will flicker on and off, dark alley ways will look menacing, strobing lights will confuse you, blood and corpses will unsettle you, and smoke and fog will add confusing and intense elements in the game.

All in all, the graphics are nice and clear but my only gripe is that for the better part of the game, that being the middle of it, you are in the same environment for hours, and you keep looking at the same office, hallways, chairs and desk setups, hell, it's may be beautiful graphically, but if I have to stare at the same environment for a few hours, it will get a little annoying.

The graphics are spectacular in everything they do, but some environment designs are overly repetitive.



Gameplay 10

F.E.A.R. is by far one of the best first person shooter titles that I have ever played.
Shoot-outs are very intense, plentiful, exciting, and incredibly awesome.
What makes the fire fights so enjoyable is the slow motion gunplay that really makes F.E.A.R. stand out from all other first person shooter games, and makes it unique.
In F.E.A.R. you have a little bar on the bottom of the screen that shows how much time you can enter slow motion mode in order to vanquish your enemies.
During this, time slows down for you allowing you to take better aim at your enemies, and wipe them out one by one. Slow motion looks incredible in this game, and it's simply amazing to see bullets whiz by your head in slow motion as they rip through the air.
F.E.A.R. has the smartest AI I've ever seen in a video game of the time. Often times you may even think you are playing against actual human players, and not bots.
The enemies take cover behind walls, flank you, call out your positions, communicate with each other, and use team work to try and take you down.
To truly experience how great the AI is, I recommend playing on the hardest difficulty, however they're no pushover on any of the lower difficulties, and may surprise you with their deadly tactics.
Gun battles never seem to play the same way twice, and always have a fresh feeling to them despite the fact the game is filled with these thrilling moments from beginning to end. F.E.A.R. can also be terrifying at times, and you'll often run into ghosts as you blast you're way through these dark and eerie levels, causing you to needlessly waste ammo which serve to mix up the shoot-outs later on.



Sound 10

Wow. From the horrific and creepy soundtrack (that admittedly doesn't place as much as it should) to the voice acting to even the SFX, the sound of F.E.A.R. has got it going on (not Stacy's mum)

Throughout the whole game, there will be parts where Paxton Fettel, the guy who you are tracking who will constantly menace and taunt you and your feeble efforts with his psychic abilities.

Monolith does a great job at creating a spooky atmosphere to accommodate F.E.A.R. At times the sound and music in the game can be very eerie and scary. Things being knocked over, creepy children laughing all around you, and loud noises accompanying ghosts help immerse you into the game world, and can be quite frightening at times.

The only problem I have however are things like phone messages etc, which make up the backbone of the games story can sound a little distorted and hard to hear, meaning to really understand it you need to put subtitles on.



Story 8

First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.) is a secret military organization who's purpose is to deal with paranormal activities.
You play as a nameless elite super soldier (known through out the series simply as "point man") that possesses great powers that give him an edge over his foes. He has extremely quick reflexes allowing him to react quicker than any enemy could ever hope to accomplish.
This ties into the slow motion gun play that I touched upon earlier.
The story to F.E.A.R. is very good but is brought to you through telephone calls from your superior officers.
This can lead to a bit of confusion if you don't pay attention to the conversations. Basically the story is about a madman who controls an army of clones through telepathy.
As a member of F.E.A.R. you get called in to deal with this problem, and you encounter even worse foes along the way. The story is good but when all is said and done it leaves you with quite a few questions unanswered, and it's just not implemented well as the game goes on.
What's interesting though is the almost dual narrative, you start out hunting Paxton Fettel, and that's always the primary objective and plot, but the more you start looking into Alma Wade, the ghost antagonist and her history, things start to change up and Alma becomes a serious secondary objective that you need to deal with... But how the hell can you fight a ghost?



Overall 9

F.E.A.R. is a very fun, scary, and exciting first person shooter.
It has amazing Artificial Intelligence, graphics, game play, and enemies to fight against. While it does have some problems with the controls, story projection, but none of these things make too big of an impact that prevents you from enjoying the game.
F.E.A.R. is a solid and innovative FPS game, and if you have a few quid spare, than do yourself a favour and experience this game for yourself. You will not be disappointed.



F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin



A little history: Monolith, who made the original, did not retain the rights to the F.E.A.R. name from Activision/Blizzard. So they had to come up with a new name for the sequel, and came up with the idea to have the fans submit names, with the best one becoming the new game title.
They got a couple of good ones, like “Dead Echo” and “Dark Signal”, but ultimately settled on “Project Origin”. Yep…they chose the name that sounded most like a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. Thankfully, Monolith and WB games bought back the F.E.A.R. name from Activision/Blizzard and the game's full title became FEAR 2: Project Origin. The original F.E.A.R. mixed an action-packed FPS game with elements of Japanese horror, and the results were pretty damn good. Can the sequel live up to it's predecessor's reputation?



Graphics 7

Those who have played Monolith's Condemned 2 will immediately see that F.E.A.R. 2 runs on the same graphics engine, which of course makes it much better looking that the first F.E.A.R.
Levels for the most part are nicely designed, especially the levels that take place in the destroyed city.
Character and enemy models are nicely detailed, and the various gore effects are very brutal, including dismemberment and exploding heads. Hell, one enemy has a gas tank on his back for no other reason than to cause it to explode!
However, the most impressive feats of F.E.A.R 2 lie in it's special effects and set-pieces, from it's destructive environments to it's lighting to it's paranormal events.
One particular scene in a blinking light hallway in the elementary school is especially creepy. All these effects look even more impressive in slo-mo.
Some low-res texture work and a severe need for anti-aliasing keep it from being one of the best looking games out there, but what's here is impressive enough.



Gameplay 8

Not much has changed from the first FEAR gameplay-wise. Unfortunately, there is only one control scheme to work with in FEAR 2, with no customisation options. You fire, look down the sights, crouch, jump, and anything else that you would expect to do in a FPS.
Becket can even perform some martial arts melee attacks like in the first F.E.A.R.
The main gameplay element that separates F.E.A.R 2 from other shooters out there is the ability to go into bullet-time and wreck house. Like the Point Man, Becket has had “special” training which has augmented all his reflexes and senses, slo-mo does however make the game a little too easy, though at times it's a necessity.
F.E.A.R. 2 also removes the corner peeking that was featured in the first game and replaces it with the ability to use various objects in the environment for cover, This mechanic can be useful, but most of the time it shouldn't be needed, what with the slo-mo and everything.

Of course, the horror element is still fully intact in F.E.A.R. 2, thanks to series protagonist Alma's infatuation with Becket.
You'll constantly be seeing ghosts and other apparitions that impede your progress, as well as creepy flashbacks and Alma herself, appearing in both her child and adult forms.
This means that F.E.A.R. 2 includes more paranormal encounters than in F.E.A.R. with the ghosts actually attacking you at certain points, forcing you to shoot at something that basically isn't even there.
The most horrible paranormal enemy however is the ghouls that use dead bodies as puppets to attack you. These guys take a lot of ammo to take down and provide some of the game's more tense moments.
There are also enemies that remind me a lot of the creatures that appear toward the end of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and can lead to some creepy moments as they pop out of nowhere and jump on you, forcing you to fight them off. Overall, the action and horror come together just as well as the original game, and gives us another fun shooting experience, even though it doesn't really do that much more than the original F.E.A.R. did.



Sound 7

F.E.A.R. 2 has excellent sound design that puts it on par with the original game. Guns, explosions, bullet effects and the like are all phenomenal, and make you proud to own a 5.1 system. Voice acting and the little music that game has also get the job done very well. Everyone repeat after me: “No complaints here!”
I would say more on this, but just look at the paragraph in the F.E.A.R. review and then modernise the sound design to 2008 standards and there you go!



Story 7

The story starts out some time before the explosion that destroyed most of the city of Auburn at the end of the first F.E.A.R.
The original games Point Man is nowhere to be found here, as F.E.A.R. 2 has you stepping into the shoes of Delta Force member Michael Becket, who just like the Point Man seems to be missing a voice.
Him and his fellow squad mates have been giving the assignment to take Genevieve Aristide, the current president of Armacham Technologies (Armacham, of course, being responsible for the events of the first F.E.A.R.) into protective custody.
Of course, the plan goes to hell when the Point Man detonates the Origin facility and destroys the city with a nuclear blast, knocking Becket unconscious in the process.
When he wakes up, he finds himself in a hospital, separated from the rest of his team. Now Becket must fight through what's left of the city facing Armacham clean-up troops, replica soldiers, and a ghostly little girl named Alma who seems to have an attachment to him.
As far as stories go, F.E.A.R. 2's gets the job done in terms of getting you through the game, but overall it's not the strongest out there. Becket's silent demeanour and the fact that he'll be all by himself most of the game means that it will be hard to make some sort of attachment to him. It doesn't help that most of the supporting characters are all from the class of 2008 generic team-mate college, right down to the token "hot chick" of the group. Still, there is just enough storytelling (a lot of it done through intel you'll pick up in the field as with the first) and nicely written dialogue to get most players to it's fairly confusing (and disturbing) ending that leaves you wondering what's next.



Overall 7.5

F.E.A.R. 2's single player mode is average length, taking about 8-10 hours to complete. Afterwards, you can play the game on a higher difficulty level or play through each level again looking for any intel or slo-mo upgrades you may have missed. However, that pretty much covers it for single-player replay value, except for the trophies/achievements you can earn.
The only other value here is getting into the multiplayer, which I really don't see happening for most FPS fans with games like Call of Duty, Killzone, HALO and Resistance readily available for gamers.

Despite a very generic subtitle, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin lives up to it's predecessor in providing an action-movie/horror experience that should be enjoyable to most FPS fans. As long as you leave your brain at the door and don't expect a whole lot of wheel re-invention, you should have a hell of a time fearing Alma again!



F.E.A.R 3



The latest entry into the F.E.A.R. series, this time made by Day 1 studios instead of Monolith. And while you can distinctly see the change in developer, it plays and feels like a F.E.A.R. game.



Graphics 8

graphically, this game looks fantastic, I really cannot fault it in any sense, it's on par with todays FPS games in terms of how it looks.
But my only problem is environments look too samey.
Like the first level is a prison, all you get is brown walls and boxes, level four is suburbs and you get white, blood streaked walls...It's quite repetitive from level to level. Yeah I get that each level has it's own feel and look, but there is hardly variation within the levels themselves.
I mean, is it really so hard to chuck in a pink bedroom in one of the suburbs? maybe a rec area in the prison...
Still, it's a bloody good looking game and everything is well crafted and really sucks you into the world of F.E.A.R. 3



Gameplay 8

Standard FPS fare done very well.
like the other two F.E.A.R. games, this instalment follows the current trend of shooters, which this time round seems to be urban warfare in suburban settings.
I don't mind that, but it all feels a little samey.
Still, the gameplay itself is well done and solid, I had a blast playing through the game Running, jumping, and interacting with the environment are all spot-on, with one very large issue gracefully resolved. In many FPS games you need to be in the perfect spot to interact. F.E.A.R. 3 gives you some leeway, wherein if you're pretty close, the prompt will come up allowing for interaction. This removes a lot of headache, especially in the co-op multi-player where interaction is critical to success.
Yes, co-op. Work with a friend! This game supports local spiltscreen and online... I managed to play through splitscreen with wmy husband in about 5 hours, it's not exactly brilliant length, but we did plow through the game. on single player, or with less reckless playes, the game can be extended as firefights can become drawn out.
But the co-op also detracts from the scary factor of it's predecessors, and even in single player it's not overly scary, creepy yes - but there are no "OMIFUCKINGGOD!!!" moments.
Still, the atmosphere is good and keeps you on your toes.



Sound 8

Noise and voices are all done very well, and add to the tension of the game, both in single player and in multi-player.
Sound effects add to the creepy ambiance of the game, with screams, gusting wind, shattering boards, etc. keeping you from ever really being calm.
Shouting from the enemies and partners during the game can get a little repetitive, but this never becomes a major issue.
The only true issue that can be addressed is this: some sounds (especially the mech) can become overpowering. If you're using a headset or surround sound.
It's pretty much on par with the first game in terms of sound quality though, which is good... So like with F.E.A.R. 2, look at 1's review for sound.



Story 8

Weird, twisted, disturbing, any of those will do.
Point Man returns from the first game homicidal, psycho, dead brother Paxton Fettel in tow hunting down a their mother, Alma Wade who is now pregnant from the events of the second game and ready to drop.
Yeah, it's weird, and pretty decent for an FPS game.
It drives the game well, giving you a good reason to keep pressing on slaughtering any hapless fool who idiotically wanders in between you and the end of the level.
In shooter games a story is generally second to the action, but this one keeps your attention pretty well, made all the better by some good and creepy voice acting, where even the random fodder enemies are done very well.



Overall 8

The game itself isn't scary, not like the first two are, but it still has it's moments where you'll jump... But it seems to want to focus more on firefights than creepy as fuck atmosphere which really lets the game down as the constant fighting gets boring and I much prefer walking down a blackened hallway with a torch wondering what the hells gonna get me next rather than just walking from one fight to the other with a flickering light inbetween.
It's a solid shooter though with great mechanics visual flare, if you're looking for time to kill or are a fan of the franchise, definitely look this one up!

BloodRayne - PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC

It is very obvious that this game is trying to sell based on sexual appeal, violence and gore.
The game designers created a vampire lady whom they claimed is a “super sexy, super lethal and supernatural heroine who have the looks and moves to make gamers lusting for her”, as the main character.
Her job in this game is to tempt the hot-blooded male gamers and to cut her enemies into million pieces. Well, she is attractive to a certain extent but I do wish that the game designers did not try this tactic to sell this game instead. This kind of tactic just simply makes it seems like a desperate effort to appeal to the gamers and causing this game to sink into a lower class of games, which instead of attracting most of the gamers, will repel them away instead.
This is very unfortunate because actually, the core of this game; the gameplay is pretty good and enjoyable, though it does get repetitive. It is very similar to Soul Reaver in terms of gameplay with the addition of using fire-power and minus the soul sucking ability and the horrible precise platform jumping.



Graphics 6

This game is decently rendered but with many flaws.
The characters have quite detailed facial features but it is obvious that more work can be done to improve on this area because the jagged edges are still very obvious.
The character models are like nicely craved wooden dolls, they have nice profiles but lack the details and the life in them. While the Nazi soldiers are rendered pretty impressive especially their horrified expressions when Rayne is sucking their blood and some characters like Rayne, Mynce, the twins and Jurgen Wulf look distinctly different from each other, other enemies like the Nazi Officers and the vampires look muddled.
The movements of the characters are very realistic from the Nazi soldiers waving their hands in pain as Rayne sucks their blood, and running away in terror when Rayne just lops off their arms or slices their comrades into pieces to, the motions of Rayne when she attacks, rolls, jumps and flips. These movements can be seen clearly when Rayne uses her dilated perception to slow down time, so enjoy them.
Rayne herself though looks like she is suffering from “Stiff Back Syndrome” in which her back is rigidly straight and she looks like she cannot turn her waist. More work can be done on this area.

As for Rayne, she looks pretty good with her hair flowing very naturally in the air when she moves and the two ornaments on the sides of her hair not only enhance her look but also swirl around impressively and realistically adding to the viewing pleasure.
Her costume is nicely designed which is full of gothic flavor completed with intricate details. My main gripe with the design of Rayne is the inconsistency of her appearance in the CG movies and in-game graphics.
In the CG movie, Rayne has blood red hair and looks absolutely nasty, something like a femme fatale while her hair is orangey red and she looks milder in the game. I think that surely, it is not difficult to avoid this kind of discrepancy, how tough is it to ensure that the colour is the same and the basic facial features are the same?

The CG movies are quite good with pretty realistic expressions and movements of the characters but as I had said before, the design of Rayne could be improved on.
Also, as compared to the CG movies of Silent Hill games, yes, even first Silent Hill game on Psone, the CG movies of this game is still one notch below.
Then again, it is almost impossible to reach the standard of Silent Hill’s CG movies, so I am not going to complain too much.

The backgrounds are nicely detailed and the layout of the levels is realistically designed, yes, there are barracks and toilets in the Nazi hideouts. Rayne can make scratches on the walls when she slashes around and gallons of blood littered the floors and walls when some fighting takes place.



Gameplay 7

The gameplay lies heavily on action instead of puzzles. In fact, this game is something like a hack and slash platformer with a gothic theme, mixed with some easy puzzles. Most of the time, these missions will just require Rayne to kill her way through her enemies to get to her goal. This is where the fun of this game comes in, the dispatching of the enemies (though some players may feel uneasy about this, which is perfectly understandable since some enemies are human and they are killed in various cruel ways.)

Another thing about this game is that the player is strongly encouraged to create as much carnage as possible, meaning the player should try to use Raynes blades instead of gun since fire power is relatively useless in this game and it does not fill up the blood rage gauge.
And as you know, using the blades implies many severed body parts, blood fountains and tortured screams.

The puzzles are minimal in this game, which are mainly finding some batteries to power on the elevators, finding control turkeys to open the doors and figuring out where to go.
The finding errands are not very tedious, usually the items are not too far away from where you want to use them on and there are less than ten such puzzles in this game. Also, you can use the Aura sense or the radar on the right bottom corner of the screen to check which direction to go and find the items.
Figuring out where to go is the more difficult part of the game even though the aura sense and radar do provide some help. This provides some challenge to the game making it more interesting.

The controls are very responsive, there is no problems executing the moves you want.
The button configuration are excellently done in which you will have no problem manoeuvring about while using the blades or gun.

The camera always keeps some distance away from Rayne so it is easy to what is ahead of and besides her.
In addition, there is the strafing option, which is useful in the case of avoiding your enemies’ bullets or attacks and going behind them for attacking. The versatility of controls, in which you can choose between three different control setups and change the turning speed, is a welcomed feature to the game.

My problems with the controls? Well, they are the inability to control where to land when doing spinning jump and difficulty in judging where to jump so as to land onto the wires above to tightrope.
These two problems will cause Rayne to land in water many times, which is not a very pleasant experience as due to Vampire lore, they don't like the wet stuff.



Sound 7

The music on the title screen is nice and the background music of the levels has a strong gothic feel, nothing too irritating but nothing too memorable as well.
Also, the music is too soft, to the point of non-existent.
The sound effects on the other hand are wonderfully done from realistic gun firing sounds, slashing sounds of Rayne’s blades, screams of agony of the characters (can be pretty disturbing though), Nazi Officers and soldiers to sounds of the explosions.
The voice acting is decent, especially by Laura Bailey who voices Rayne
but take note that the characters are very generous in the use of vulgar language.



Story 4

Rayne, the heroine of this game is a half human, half vampire who has all the strengths of a vampire with none of its weaknesses, she is the product of the rape of her mother by her vampire father. Thus, she created a path of destruction, killing many vampires in order to find her father.
During the search for her father, she was recruited by the Brimstone society to help eliminate any supernatural threats that will destroy the world. So she was sent to Louisiana on a mission and the game begins from here.

Frankly speaking, the story here is very generic because there are no twists, no details, no emotional scenes and superb ending. The story is very predictable; Rayne discovered the evils works of Nazis and seek to impede them from creating more chaos, there are no surprises in the progress of the story except for one minor one regarding a mysterious commander.
Also, there are not many details and information added to the story, like the exact evil deeds of the Nazi Officers that Rayne is sent to kill, what and where exactly is Brimstone society, why the Brimstone society chose Rayne to be their agent, how they convinced her to join them and information on her father. T
here are too many questions unanswered and the lack of details makes it difficult to be engross into the story. Also, it is hard to feel for the characters because no emotional scenes are depicted in this game.

Despite the weak story, the game designers should be given credit for coming up with a logical story to function the progress of the game.
For one thing, Rayne is purposely designed to be a half vampire instead of a pure one so that she has no constant need to suck blood, she only need to do that to replenish her health when she takes damage. This will prevent the game from becoming irritating as you do not have to constantly look for targets to suck blood on, just imagine you are desperately looking for a target to fill up your life bar and there is no one alive in sight and the life bar is slowly draining, well, you get the idea.
Also, this adds humanity to Rayne’s character in which though she kills in very cruel fashion, she do not kill innocents just to satisfy her blood-lust, she only kills the evils, so it is easier to like this character, though it is hard to feel for this character. Also, the story gives reasons for Rayne to venture onto various areas of the game to complete her missions, so I can say that the story does fulfil its basic functions.



Overall 7

This game has decent gameplay, worth a try, great for gamers who love action in their games.
It's a nice concept that at times works but at others, sometimes feels poorly executed.
Still, it's a game worth trying just for the introduction to Rayne herself, an amazing character that shouldn't really work... And she only gets better with the games sequel, BloodRayne 2 and hopefully that is expanded upon further with this summers new game BloodRayne: Betrayal.

Dragon Age: Origins & Awakening - PC, PS3, Xbox 360

I was a late comer to the Dragon Age universe, this game came out in 2009, it was September 2010 before I played it.
I remember seeing the screens and reviews online but my initial thought was "meh"
Then I got bored bored of beating a game over the space of a week (I'm a mum, I can't play as much as I used to) so I was buying a game every week.
So I looked into Dragon Age after seeing it had a long lifespan and decided to order it. I was instantly hooked!

A lot of people out there compare Dragon Age: Origins to Oblivion or Knights of the Old Republic. This makes sense. Oblivion would be the other truly hyped (and truly great) western RPG of this generation. KotOR is a previous outing from the publisher, BioWare, and is also an object of worship for our benighted kind. People want to know whether they can expect the same sort of entertainment out of DA:O.

I suppose so, sort of. The best comparison, though, is to Final Fantasy XII. DA:O is America's answer to FFXII. I mean that in both the positive and negatives sentences, as you'll see.



Graphics 5

DA:O is unpretty. Judging from what I've heard, it looks even worse on the Xbox. I've only played the PlaySation version though, so I'll limit my review to it. This is where the comparisons to other games are helpful. DA:O is much closer to FFXII graphically than Oblivion. FFXII was a game for the previous console, yes, but it came late in the cycle. It really got a lot out of the PS2. Comparing the two game graphically is slap on DA:O's mouth, yes, but maybe not as hard a slap you might think. Like, open handed with the palm, as opposed to backhanded, in the manner of pimps.

Gabe over at Penny Arcade aptly criticized not just the textures but the architecture of DA:O. It's kind of repetitive. It feels stifling at times. If you've played KotOR, you know what I'm talking about. The corridors are tight, and they often look the same.
I'd love to see something like WoW's sprawling Orgrimmar in the game, but instead all we get is the Dwarven city Orzammar, a space where the entire nobility seem to occupy one of two rooms. DA:O does have better graphics than now dated WoW, of course, but it is nowhere near as thoughtful in terms of design.




Gameplay 9

If you played FFXII, you'll feel right at home. It's the exact same system. BioWare has actually been using this system since at least KotOR, which predates FFXII by three years. Where they learned from Square Enix the script writing system. Back in KotOR days as soon as you encountered an enemy, the action froze, and you entered in a queue of actions for your characters. A character left to their own devices would do random things that were usually pretty helpful.

FFXII improved on this formula, and DA:O follows, by allowing you to set up rules for your team's reactions with incredible precision. Do you want your warrior to bash the closest thing with a pulse? Enter that in the script. But what if your mage is being attacked? Well, you can enter with higher priority a script that taunts whoever is attacking off of your mage. The options here are impressive. And, of course, you can pause the action whenever and tell whoever to do whatever. You're never stuck into these scripts.

Though the game doesn't pause during encounters, it still is nothing at all like Oblivion. In the latter, you push a button, you swing your sword. In DA:O, you enter a command, you swing your sword at the next opportunity. I like the Oblivion model, but it's never been attempted in the party system yet.

But the game isn't without it's flaws. It's extremely glitchy

On a scale of one to ten, zero being no glitches, ten being very glitches, DA:O ranks in at extremely annoying. Now, the good news is the PS3 fares better than the PC which has some truly bizarre stuff going on. Also, the money glitch is really an exploit. No reason to complain about that. The dexterity glitch, though, is almost a gamebreaker for you rogues out there.

Plus, I've had one random freeze in 40 hours. A more common glitch, though, is characters disappearing or appearing at times. I didn't realize Harry Houdini was in my party. Very few of these glitches truly impede the game itself. Could be worse. Should be better. Thankfully, the game's autosaves are ample (even if they are a total give-away that something with sharp teeth and empty gullet is crouching around the corner)

Still, it's an extremely playable game!



Sound 8

The sound design for this game is phenomenal!!
The biggest thumbs up has to go to the voice acting, it's absolutely brilliant, it really makes the characters come to life. Even for the NPC's, it's outstanding!
The music pumps you up when battle starts and gives you that much needed adrenaline rush or the nice serene music plays whilst wandering through a town or whatever. My fave is definitely the back track that plays when you're on the docks at lake Callenhad
As for sound effects. Everything sounds as it should, swords clashing, ballistas firing, people screaming, rocks falling etc. It's completely immersive! Well done BioWare!



Story 11

This one goes to eleven. I've not felt so involved in the lives of fictional characters since Buffy. All of the epic plot and backstory are there. The dialogue is just top notch stuff, as well. Again, it invites comparison to FFXII's sweeping storyline. In fact, I'm not even sure what kind of person would really go through all of the books you'll find in game on the history of the DA:O universe. It's incredibly well put together.

And I really like my group. The opportunity to tell jokes with Alistair makes him feel real. The “relationship gauge” beneath each character allows you to invest in your party, or not. If you don't like the characters in real life, you don't have to like them in game.

But mostly, the characters are incredible likeable. Not to mention hilarious. As you traipse through town, random dialogue breaks out between your party, depending on who you include in your group. Not only is it interesting to see relationships develop between party members, it's often really funny. If you keep your dog around, he will make laugh. I imagine that someone might actually talk to the dog out loud, asking whether or not he's a good boy. I don't do this, ever. I just imagine somebody might.

So that's two paragraphs about the characters alone. The plot is beyond the high expectations I have for BioWare. It's better than a lot of books I read. If you're at all interested in fantasy stories, I don't see how you could pass this game up, for all its bugginess. If you prefer action, Demon's Souls might be a better route for you. There is a lot of dialogue.



Overall 9

DA:O was meant to be replayed. This comes out in the unlocking of specializations. You might want to be a Blood Mage. Well, it could take you nearly a playthrough to unlock that specialization. You shouldn't have too much trouble if you Google all this stuff, but then you're diminishing the exploratory nature of the game.

Also, the DLC is there and I think paid DLC from launch is a damnable practice, exploited by frothy mouthed heathens. But, it is what it is. It proves, anyway, that EA wants you to play the game through more than once.

And there is reason. As complex as the plot is, it allows you to make huge decisions that will affect the outcome of the game. Some of these are a bit fudged, though. For instance, I once chose to fight a pretty important battle, but then a party member sallied forth into the fray, anyway. I was given a choice, I guess, but the outcome was identical. Anyway, a lot of the impressiveness of this game is that there is just no way to get to all the excellently acted dialogue with just once character. It takes many rounds to really see everything this game's got.

DA:O is an incredible, incredibly flawed game. The plot is so good, though, that it would be a mistake to forego this title for other, prettier, better play tested games. For all its junk, there's just nothing else like it.
This game is one of my most favourite games EVER! I've played through it about 10 times and I've clocked up a couple hundred hours in-game... That's not counting the DLC



Awakening



Gameplay 9

Awakening is the biggest of the add-on packs to Dragon Age: Origins, following the story of what happened to your Warden should he or she have survived, if not you get to play an Orlesian warden.
The game plays exactly like Origins so you should feel right at home playing it. New quests, upgrades, armours and weapons make this a must-play if you enjoyed the DA:O universe



Sound 8

Again, this is pretty much like Origins a lot of the voice cast return, though in different roles and the new ones do their jobs very well. Especially the Elf Velanna. You can really feel her hatred for humans.



Story 8

Taking place six months after Origins, Awakening follows the new Warden commander and his/her journey around the Arling of Amaranthine in a bid to stop a new Darkspawn invasion
There is no Arch Demon however and it's all to do with a Brood Mother aptly called "The Mother" who is at war with another Darkspawn "The Architect"
One wishes to destroy humanity, the other, ally with it. The Grey Wardens are stuck in the middle.



Overall 8

Not as good as Origins, this is definitely worth playing if you're a fan of DA:O. Especially if you wish to see what happens to your Warden after the Blight.
The characters aren't as memorable, nor are the locales but it gives you more of a look at Fereldan
And now that it's packaged for free with the Ultimate edition box set, there's no reason why you shouldn't play it.



NOTE!! I will try and include the other mission based DLC over time with this post.

Mortal Kombat - PS3, Xbox 360

Bloody. Crude. Graphic. Nasty. Sick. Awesome. Fun.
All of these words can describe the Mortal Kombat franchise, which has been around for generations in the video game world.
It has made its name known for its brutality that is displayed in its fights, and its widely known fatalities... Nobody who has played Mortal Kombat can ever forget Shoa Kahns demand to “FINISH HIM!” after a bout is won.
Mortal Kombat is also known for something else though, it is known for creating a universe and story more with more depth than any fighting game.




Graphics 8

Mortal Kombat, as a franchise, has always been mediocre in the graphics department.
While they have been good enough to enjoy, they haven't been up to par with other games such as Tekken and Soul Calibur.
With this instalment, however, the game has definitely gotten a beef up in the graphics department. This definitely puts Mortal Kombat in the same class as other fighting games as far as visuals, not quite as good as the Tekken series, but much much better than the more animated series like Virtua Fighter and Street Fighter.

In addition to more detail and smoother movement in the appearance of the characters (although some characters' faces still look polygonal like Liu Kang), the game takes gigantic strides in the improvement of scenery graphics.
I have always enjoyed the scenery of the Mortal Kombat world, and there are so many places that are classic hits that have made returns throughout the series like the Pit and Acid Pool.
But, despite the several incarnations of the same environments, I found myself in awe this time around.
I view the graphics with a fair amount of scrutiny, however, I found NRS's attention to detail really paid off, making for a very enjoyable treat, and something great to look at.





Sound 9

I have to admit, I do sincerely like the soundtrack from this instalment of Mortal Kombat.
As far as the sound effects of the fighting itself, it's a little over the top, but in reality what game isn't?
The music and the ambiance, however, grade A.
Fight music is important to me, I enjoy having some good music to accompany me kicking someone's arse and while I won't go so far to say that the soundtrack is overly epic, I will definitely say that it is a good one.
I enjoy the dark feel to the tracks and the dark suffering feel to the ambiance, completely appropriate for the Mortal Kombat realm.




Gameplay 8

Alright, this is probably the most important part of the review.
Mortal Kombat has undergone severe changes throughout the span of the series, and have been both good and bad.
With the 3D gameplay that was introduced in Mortal Kombat 4, the franchise took a turn toward becoming like many other franchises like Tekken, Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive, etc. This move made gameplay much more strategic on the player's behalf, and also made the gameplay much more realistic.
However, this instalment takes Mortal Kombat back to its roots of 2D... sort of.
It is actually 2.5D. It is a horizontally based fighting game, one which has no 3D pane in which to move, or no z-axis, but some of the arenas utilize diagonal movement to add some depth. There is no sidestepping and circling movement, and all of the directional controls give you are left, right, jump, and duck.
This being said, it is not slow paced like the original Mortal Kombats in the series that also used a 2D engine, quite the contrary actually. This instalment is an incredibly fast paced game, especially for a Mortal Kombat game as a whole.
I am a die-hard Tekken player, so I am used to the pace of the game, and as such, I was able to adapt quickly, however for those who are inexperienced, or are expecting a Mortal Kombat like the past, you're in for a rude awakening. Luckily, however, there is a beginner difficulty that could ease pain a tad (a lot).




Story 8

The Mortal Kombat story always revolves around the same thing, a villain trying to take over and elite heroes entering a tournament in order to stop said villain, all the same since the beginning.
This game takes the original 3 games stories and mashes them together in one massive narrative, which is good because until the later games, I never really "got" the story of the games.
Though I do think it's funny that the MK1 portion of the narrative takes a lot of cues from the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie.
With the story now actually being elaborated on, as opposed to simply fighting their way up the ladder (which is still an option to players who would like to experience non-canon character specific endings), players can get a really good feel for the backdrop of the Mortal Kombat world; and for those who have not played any of the other instalments, you won't be missing out and you won't be confused. All in all, the story was relatively good and interesting.




Overall 8

I loved this game, to be honest, while I've always like MK, I fell out with it and favoured Tekken more, simply because Mortal Kombat started to grow bland, but this game has been stripped down and it's gone back to basics. And that's a good thing!
I really enjoy playing this and whupping my husbands arse with Kitana... It never gets tiring. Do yourself a favour and get this game!!