I’m Anxious About the New Paper Mario

Paper Mario games have been some of my favorite games of all time, Its games have great stories, gameplay, strategy, and puzzles that require a fair amount of thinking. But this new paper mario is looking a little childish, now I’m not sure if this actually going to be the cover art, but this looks extremely childish.

Image From it.mario.wikia.com/

Despite Its childish outlook Paper Mario games have been extremely serious and respected games. They have had intriguing plots and plot twists that I never saw coming. One thing that I dislike, is that if this game does turn out to be good I am going to need to get a 3ds to play it, a system I have no other interest in other than playing Paper Mario on it. This game is released in summer of 2012, I will try to remain optimistic about it, and in the mean time play some of the old Paper Mario games, which I will definitely do a lets play of. Maybe after reminiscing in how amazing those games are, it will reassure me that Paper Mario 3ds will be a good game.

Have you ever played any of the paper mario games? What did you think? And what do you think of the new one.

Assassin’s Creed meets the American Revolution??!?

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Assassin’s Creed 3 is finally confirmed!!!! Ubisoft is making their 3rd installment to the incredibly successful series Assassin’s Creed, and as of today the cover art has finally been released. Here it is!

411mania.com

This image was originally accidentally uploaded by the website GameInformer, but it was uploaded before it was supposed to and was quickly taken down again. But as we all know, when something ends up on the internet it never goes away. Fans of the game quickly grabbed the image and saved it. Ubisoft later released the official image again.

As of right now nothing about the game other than the cover art has been officially released by Ubisoft, but this tells a ton in itself. First off, as we can see the game takes place during the American Revolution!! Say what???? The British are coming… and apparently Assassins as coming too!! No one knows who this new Assassin is, or what roll he will play in the story, but I know I am excited to find out!!

What are your guys thoughts on the Assassin’s Creed series? Are you excited for this release??

Lets Play: Nazi Zombies, Call of the Dead

Wednesdays are Lets Play days, this week I’m playing Nazi Zombies, Call of the Dead.

I don’t like Call of Duty games all that much, but Nazi Zombies is a whole different story. To me, Nazi Zombies is a perfect combination of simplicity, strategy, skill, luck, and fun. One thing I find interesting about Nazi Zombies is how Treyarch was able to quickly and seamlessly add an interesting story to it. If you look at the first original Nazi Zombie map, it is clear that it was just intended to be a fun little extra in the call of duty universe, but when Treyarch started to make more maps, they also added an intriguing story to the Nazi Zombie universe. And I am a person who enjoys a game with an interesting story. Also, an interesting story was desperately needed among the Call of Duty games. Anyway time to talk about my specific play through.

I played solo on Call of the Dead, my favorite Nazi Zombie map. The game started out simple enough, shoot stab, shoot stab, shoot stab. As soon as I had enough points I opened the two doors that separated me from the ak-74. I stayed by the lighthouse, but I struggled a bit on levels 3-7, because those are awkward levels where not all the zombies are running, making it harder to circle.

But by level 8 all the zombies were going at consistent speeds making it easier to rack up points.

I got extremely lucky, because two death machines dropped at the end of different rounds. I used these death machines on George, and because he has low health when you are playing solo, these two death machines brought him to the brink of death.

By the end of level 10 I had bought all of my 4 perks. As you can see I chose juggernog, quick revive (on solo you can revive yourself), double tap, and the one I am drinking is stamina up. Most people don’t like double tap because it burns through your ammo much to fast, and it does. But when I am using the ak74, and I am constantly at a place where I can get more ammo, it is a very useful perk. And as for stamina up, that perk makes it much easier to run circles around the zombies. as for the other useful perks, such as speed reload and mule kick I rely on killing george to acquire them.

As I said, George was very weak after taking all the damage from two death machines, so it only took a couple sticky grenades and some pistol rounds to kill him.

From George I got speed cola, and a Wunderwaffe. Just a cool little side note, Treyarch got the name for the Wunderwaffe from history. Near the end of WWII the Germans attempted to develop a super weapon that would change the war, which they were calling the Wunderwaffe. Now it probably wasn’t a rifle that shot chain lighting, but it’s still cool that Treyarch connected Nazi Zombies to history in that way. I didn’t always like the Wunderwaffe, actually I didn’t appreciate its greatness until black ops came out and it wasn’t in that game very much at all. Lobbies would be amazed and confused as I let the Wunderwaffe slip back into that cruel and mysterious mystery box. But now I love this weapon, It is now my favorite zombie killing weapon of all time.

I only made it to round 17, in hindsight I probably should have upgraded my ak74. It is definitely possible I will document another one of my zombie play throughs, hopefully that one will be more successful.

So, what do you think about Nazi Zombies, Call of Duty, or just video games in general? Let me know by leaving a comment!

The Decline of the Modern Warfare Series!

gamelitist.com

Call of Duty is one of those games that almost anyone with an Xbox or Playstation has. I got into Call of Duty when I went down to Game Stop and purchased a copy of Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 1 nearly four years ago. This sparked a monster and I just could not put the game down. I went straight from Modern Warfare 1 to Modern Warfare 2. This game exploded on the market in 2010 and has completely changed the competitive and professional gaming community. Although this game was extremely fun and entertaining for a short while, it quickly got repetitive and boring. It was almost as if you felt like you had to play to keep up with the rest of the gaming world, but it just wasn’t fun anymore. Now with the release of Modern Warfare 3, everything has crashed and burned. The game is literally just a map pack for Modern Warfare 2. The graphics are identical, many of the weapons are the same and the game feels no different than its predecessor.

As I am sure many of you know, Infinity Ward is responsible for producing Modern Warfare games in the Call of Duty Series, while Treyarch is responsible for making all of the other games. Both of these are game developers that work for the publishing company Activision. Although both developers have positive and negative sides to their games, Infinity Ward has arguably the most popular games. Despite the popularity of their games, the production and maintenance quality of Infinity Ward’s products are very low. Although Modern Warfare 1 was backed up with good map packs and game support, they slacked off on Modern Warfare 2. I mean like they literally produced the game and than left it in the dust to fend for itself.

The game collapsed and turned into a hacker friendly, booster infested modded lobby disaster. Infinity ward abandoned the game and immediately starting working on their next release. Why did they do this? To make more money!

It is way more beneficial for them to release a new game and sell another couple million copies than it is to keep up maintenance on the online servers of an older game. For this reason, I believe that the quality of Modern Warfare 3 will quickly decline as Infinity Ward scrambles to make more money on their next release.

I personally prefer Modern Warfare games to other games in the Call of Duty series, but I still am well aware of the flaws in the games. I think that the reason I am more attracted to these games is because Modern Warfare 1 was the first Call of Duty I played and Modern Warfare 2 was the first “first person shooter” I became obsessed with. I did enjoy Black Ops, but it did not entertain me for long and soon found myself playing the game less and less.

When Modern Warfare 3 was released I held off from buying it because I was skeptical of the quality of the game and I did not want to waste my money. In the end I surrendered and bought a copy of the game. I enjoyed it a lot at first, but I got tired of it very quickly. I think I can credit this to my long gaming history on Modern Warfare 2, and because these games are so similar it almost feels as if I am playing the same game.

For me the game is still fun, and as of right now the servers are running smoothly and the lobbies are hack free and booster free thanks to the removal of the game-ending tactical nuke. Although I enjoy it, I don’t play it very often and when I do it is not for very long periods of time. It is hard to say what I will do when the next Call of Duty is released, but I doubt I will buy it right away.

This is just my opinion though. What do you think about the Modern Warfare series and Modern Warfare 3 in particular? Will you buy the next game when it comes out?

My New Laptop Is On Its Way!

My first personal laptop I ever got was a black Macbook, a couple years later I upgraded to a Macbook Pro. My birthday is coming up in march, and with nothing else I could think of that I wanted, I convinced my dad to get me a PC laptop. An Alienware x17 to be precise. I made this decision for a couple of reasons: 1. after seeing all the mods you could put on some of my favorite games on PC’s I’ve wanted to venture into the world of PC gaming. 2. The program I have for recording with my HD PVR doesn’t work on Macs, so I’ve been having to borrow my dads laptop every time I want to film something. 3. I don’t want to have to worry about wether something will work on my Mac or not anymore.

The estimated arrival is March 3rd, Saturday. So I was extremely confused when a big package from dell came today, but it turns out they just ship the carrying case separately from the computer.

It looks pretty sweet huh? Needless to say I am extremely excited about my new laptop and can’t wait to get my hands on it!

So I’m going to be new to the world of PC gaming, if any of you PC veterans, or Alienware owners are out there I’d love to hear from you!

Lookout for More Explosions, Bank Heists and Totaled Cars with the Release of Grand Theft Auto 5

GTANet.com

Grand theft auto is one of those series that just never gets old. GTA games always brings new and creative ways to kill people and blow things up and provide countless hours of entertainment for gamers such as myself. For this reason, when Rockstar announced the release of GTA 5 I was extremely excited. I am hoping that this release will bring back much of the functionality that GTA 4 lacked, such as the ability to fly planes and drive tanks. It seems like the plane feature was removed with the release of GTA 4 because Rockstar feared gamers might simulate the events that occurred during 9/11 due to the fact that the map is a mock up version of New York City. You can still fly a helicopter, but it just isn’t the same.

This next release takes place in Vinewood, Los Puerta which is modeled after Hollywood, Los Angeles. GTA is known for its lengthy storyline and its free-roam map, so I am expecting a lot from the graphics and map layout. Vehicles, weapons and characters are all different, but the overall feel of the game seems very similar to GTA 4. I am hoping that this release will live up to its predecessor and will not just feel like an add on to GTA 4. The game’s release date is not yet given, but it should be out by summer.

I know I am always excited for more opportunities to blow up police cars and terrorize civilians, so for me this is definitely a game I will buy, but what are your opinions on this game? Do you think it will live up to the success of GTA 4, or will it be just another game in the GTA series? Let me know in a comment!

Top 5 Most Badass Video Game Characters

Following my new post framework, Thursday starts with a “T” so it’s a free post day

Number 5: Marcus Fenix

Image from gearsofwar.wikia.com

In the Gears of War games Marcus is a soldier that fights against the locust. Badass features include: being ripped beyond believe, guns with chainsaws on them, destroying entire populations of locust multiple times, and as Sam once said “These guys are way too buff! They have six packs on their asses!”

Number 4: Scorpion

Image from mortalkombat.wikia.com

Scorpion is from the Mortal Kombat series, and is probably one of the most recognizable characters. In the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub Zero, I side with Scorpion completely. Badass features include: the ability to conjure fire, his chain spear, his dual blades, and the fact that when he removes his mask a skull is revealed.

Number 3: Isaac Clarke

Image from deadspace.wikia.com

Isaac has the pleasure of getting caught in the midst of deep space adventures, government conspiracies, and of course space zombies. Well not generic zombies in any sense, they are referred to as necromorphs and are the product of human DNA being rearranged by a mysterious alien artifact known as the marker. Anyway, badass features include: an awesome advanced space suit, crashing through walls into and out of space multiple times, being able to save the human race while suffering from mental affects from the marker, and the ability to use a foam finger as a weapon.

Number 2: Ezio Auditore

Image from photobucket.com

To see the reasons why Ezio Is a badass see what Sam has said about him: https://potassiumpizzaparty.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/10-reasons-why-ezio-auditore-of-assassins-creed-is-a-badass/

Number 1: John 117 “Master Chief”

Image from halo.wikia.com

Master Chief is by far the most badass video game character ever created. He is the main character of the Halo series; he protects the human race from an alliance of aliens known as the Covenant. Frankly, if it wasn’t for Master Chief, humanity would be royally screwed. Badass features include: being the last living spartan super soldier, single handedly destroying ancient forerunner Halos, the Covenant refer to him as “The Demon”, and he repeatedly punched the prophet of regret in the neck until he died.

So thats my top 5 most badass video game character list! Also, let me know who you think I should or shouldn’t have included.

What Was Bungie Thinking When They Released ODST..?

Kotaku.com

Ok I will keep this short and concise; Halo ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) was not good. It is the one and only failure in the Halo series. I have decided I would condense all of my distaste for the game and put it into one list.

1. There was no online PVP matchmaking…

Why would you release a full game like Halo, which is known for its online game play, without its own matchmaking??

2. The story was boring and did not have any interesting character to relate to.

3. The only “multiplayer” aspect of the game was the Firefight mode, and even this did not have its own matchmaking.

Firefight is a stage based survival game. Even this was also ruined for me because of the “endure” achievement which required four players to make it to an extremely high level to unlock. This took my friends and I hours to get, and when we finally did achieve it we were ready to never play firefight again.

4. The graphics seemed to be a step back from Halo 3, and were in no way anything special.

5. The weapons were limited, the functionality was limited and the maps were short and boring.

Overall, this game had no unique features and did not hold my interest for long at all. I felt as if Bungie coped out and released this game simply for profits, and did not think about their fans at all.

Let me know in a comment what you thought about ODST. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Tell me why or why not!

Lets Play: Halo Anniversary Edition

Following my new post framework, Wednesdays will be lets play days. Where I will play a certain game and talk about my experience.

Just look at that title screen. Doesn’t it make you want to play a Halo game? Well it should, because Halo is simply amazing.

For those of you that don’t know, Halo Anniversary Edition is a polished and modernized version of the original Halo: Combat Evolved. This is the first Halo game released by the franchises new permanent designer 343 industries. Even though 343 Industries is a branch of Microsoft as Bungie is, I am a little worried of where they may take the Halo universe. But I digress, Halo Anniversary Edition is essentially all the same programming from the original game, just with improved graphics. Some might say this was lazy on their part, but I believe it is much better that they kept it the same rather than trying to changing it.

Since I was short on time I started on the second level, one of my favorites. One thing that caught my attention is that even in the first halo they really had the driving down.

The driving is extremely smooth and the cpu gunner works very well. In this play through I got through three levels, and one thing that kept sticking out to me was how funny the primitive animations looked with good graphics. Because when 343 Industries redid the graphics they didn’t redo the way things moved. So character movements are very un-detailed and it just seems so out of place with these graphics. One thing that really brought back many memories of the original Halo was the death animation. Anyone who has played Halo: CE remembers how no matter what angle your body hit the ground it always ended up doing the same spin and landing in the exact same position every time. I laughed each time I saw this animation during my playthrough.

Elites are by far my favorite alien in the Halo universe. One thing I’ve always missed in the later Halo games is hearing the aliens talk in their native tongue. While playing through, I was very pleased to hear “Wort Wort Wort!” (my favorite elite phrase of all time). The typical weapons I used throughout my play through was the magnum pistol, and either the plasma rifle or plasma pistol. You always hear people talk about how good the Halo 1 pistol was, and yes it is a very good weapon. But I do believe the hype created about it is mostly from comparison, because I dont even think Halo 2 had a pistol and Halo 3’s pistol was garbage.

Hunters are my second favorite aliens in the Halo universe, they are simply badass. So I was very disappointed while playing through because they were extremely easy to kill. Hunter fights in other Halo games were the perfect combination of difficulty and fun; it took strategy, planning, badass maneuvers, and pure luck to defeat hunters even on the normal difficulty. But in the original Halo you could take both hunters down with a single plasma pistol. So in original games, you win some you lose some.

Now, I’d say about half the reason I love Halo games, is because of the story behind it all. 343 Industries won major points with me by adding terminals (like in Halo 3), but unlike Halo 3 these terminals didn’t include text that pertained to Halo’s backstory, they contained cinematics that pertained to Halos backstory. I simply love them, here are a few screen shots of them.

As you can see all the ones I saw on my play-through had to do with 343 guilty sparks. As I typed that I realized the significance of 343 Industries name, very clever.

If you have any thoughts of Halo or games in general, leave a comment!

Thats all for the first installment of Lets Play, next wednesday I will be playing Call of Duty Black Ops: Nazi Zombies.

Assassin’s Creed: Review of Unique Multiplayer Experience

TheGameFanatics.com

Assassin’s Creed is one of those games that revolve around a complex story mode and does not focus on the multiplayer aspect of gaming, or at least that is how it was up until Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. When the idea of a multiplayer side to Assassin’s Creed was announced, I was very skeptical. I did not know how they would incorporate specific unique aspects of the game such as free running or the move by move combat style that you use against the NPCs in the story mode.

Even though I had my doubts, when Brotherhood came out I was awed by the multiplayer. Not only did it have the beautiful and fluid graphics that all Assassins’ Creed games have, but the game was fun and exciting. The character design was incredible, there were a variety of different Assassin’s to choose from and they were all diverse and had signature moves. Even though the multiplayer was very fun and different, it still had some problems. Things such as a poor matchmaking system that took forever to connect and an extremely limited number of game styles prevented the game from staying entertaining for long.

Many of these issues were addressed with the release of Assassin’s Creed Revelations. This game has many more game styles, better character customization, more maps and a better feel. The matchmaking system seems to be improved, but I still feel like it lacks the speed of other games. Despite these problems, the game is still very revolutionary for multiplayer gaming. I have never had this much fun playing a combat style game that is not a first person shooter. I think Ubisoft is heading in a whole new direction with its games and it will be exciting to see what they release in the future.

Do you like the Assassin’s Creed Multiplayer? Why or why not? Leave a comment letting me know!