I was shocked to find a copy of Uncharted 2 in the local Blockbuster. From the history of the first Uncharted, I was able to clear it pretty fast – so buying Uncharted 2 was a gamble since I may be done with it quickly.

Uncharted 2 was considered THE game to show the power of the PlayStation 3 and hopefully raise the bar to what other companies need to do to make a great game. Instead of a review of the game, I wanted to comment on this factor and whether or not it’s legit.

One thing I was amazed at throughout my playing is that the game looked great all around with no loading times, except for a longer-than-usual one at the beginning, and despite everything that was happening, the system kept up – no frame rate loss, no lag – the PS3 kept up with a game that was supposedly using the Cell Processor in the way that it was supposed to be used.

What really caught me though – was the presentation of the game. Naughty Dog did a phenomenal job at making the game fun to play and fun to watch. Cutscenes were legitimately funny thanks to the script of the characters back and forth. Not a fall-to-the-ground-laughing sort of thing but the way the dialogue was presented provided humor here and there.

Miscellaneous things such as Nathan Drake “playing” Marco-Polo while in a swimming pool (which is really ironic considering the game is based on a specific journey of Marco Polo) were one of the many miscellaneous things that showed me that the developers had fun with what they were doing. They also portrayed Nathan Drake as someone who had no problem being uneasy in the face of danger. He would react almost like WE would react in situations – unlike someone like Batman or Nathan Hale who seemingly has no fear.

Granted, Nathan has to be more daring than us, but when you see the “hero” of the game questioning why they’re doing what they’re doing before they jump – or, at one point say that they give up and that they’re finished with the whole ordeal – would be almost exactly what we would possibly do in the same situation.

Action sequences were done well too. Certain angles the camera would add to the overall feel of the game – and the levels that involved trains and jumping from vehicle-to-vehicle were also well done.

And this is why I really enjoyed Uncharted 2 – not because it’s properly using the Cell Processor or because it’s a hyped up game … but because the game’s presentation was so well done in my opinion. I never really got bored as I was playing the game – it always had my piqued attention. The game had it’s flaws, and multiplayer overall doesn’t seem as in-depth as Resistance 2 … which unfortunately means that this game can be cleared with a rental.

But, because the overall presentation of the game was so unique and well-done to me, that I may consider buying this once I have $60 to spend.

I also wanted to note my new admiration towards Naughty Dog. During the credits, it’s revealed that they give special thanks to many other game companies – including an almost 360-exclusive Bungie Studios. I’m also impressed that they are very public about how to properly code for the PS3’s Cell Processor. Many companies may keep this secret to themselves and capitalize on it to make great games. Whether you’re a fan of ND’s games or not, you have to admire them for the help they offer to other game companies who work with the PS3.

Ah, Batman. I’ve always been a Batman fan. I enjoyed the first few movies and I really enjoyed the new series that were done by Christopher Nolan. Infact, I still think Health Ledger was absolutely phenomenal in The Dark Knight. I’ve always loved the fact that the character behind Batman wasn’t a superhero due to a step forward in evolution or a spider-bite. Batman – behind it all – is a normal guy, who just happens to be really smart, rich and has a toy for everything.

Having played the demo, I wasn’t terribly impressed. But much like inFamous – I found myself going back to the demo. Eventually, I bought it – since all copies were out at the local Blockbuster. Was it a mistake? Or is this game worth the $60? Here are the high points and the low points. In the end, it’s your call …

• The predator modes of the game worked great. Having a large number of choices for silent takedowns makes you feel like there’s not much you CAN’T do.
• The storyline is actually pretty long and will keep you busy for awhile. The riddler clues and inventory upgrades will cause some backtracking … but the world isn’t too big that it’s a major chore to go from place to place.
• The combat system works okay in storymode, but really excels in the challenge modes – making you keep an eye out for your next move to attempt to get a high score. Personally, no game has ever offered a challenge room that has me hooked as much as this game.
• Voice acting was well done, and many of the voices were the same voices that were in the cartoon series. Kudos to Rockstead/Eidos for making that happen.
• Enemies in Predators mode don’t always follow the same path once you’ve started taking down enemies – which prevents from you from developing a definite, intricate pattern to help you get the quickest time.

• The combat system forces you into a set of rules, but the enemies can bend/break them causing you to screw up and/or get hit when you really shouldn’t have.
• The game has too many combat areas and too little predator areas. Isn’t Batman supposed to take out his enemies quietly one-by-one? So why are there many instances where you just basically fly in and start taking them out? I hope if they create a sequel, we see man more predator rooms and less combat rooms.
• Some riddles are difficult to decipher unless you know what you’re looking for. If you played the game and solved the riddles, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

• This doesn’t count as a negative or positive, just wanted to point out that the third Scarecrow encounter really threw me for a loop.

Postive Points: 5 | Negative Points: 3 | Total Score: +2

… we knew about you for months. But despite the fact that Sony can’t seem to hold big secrets to save their lives, Sony threw out a bunch of info that fans really wanted to hear – ultimately making Sony that much more of a competition to Nintendo and Microsoft. And considering this is a blog that is 95% geared towards PS3, I feel the need to comment on them and mention why I think Sony has just made themselves that much more of a formidable opponent.

• Price Cut to $300. It’s what people have been asking for for a long time – damn near a year I’d say at least. At first, I could understand why they stuck to the $400 price tag, but when they announced that production costs were down by around 60-70% that’s when I finally jumped ship and said that they need to do a price cut. And, they did. And they did it for both systems … so it looks like $300 is the common price for a PS3. This should silence everyone saying that they’re holding out on a PS3 because it was too expensive, considering they dropped the price by about 25%.
• PS3 Slim. The PlayStation 3 finally has it’s makeover. Personally, I prefer the bulkier original but lucky for me, I don’t have to buy this one. I am a bit envious of the less power consumption … but no matter, I’m not sure how much it would reduce my electric bill if I bought a Slim. But, people who complained that it was too ugly or bulky can’t complain anymore.
• Rumored 250GB PS3 Slim. Not even a day after it was announced, places like Joystiq PS3 and PlayStation Lifestyle caught glimpse of another PS3 Slim model that was submitted to the FCC(?) which mentioned that it would have a 250GB model. Now, while this will give people another reason to hold off on a PS3, it shows that Sony is slowly catching up to what Microsoft is already offering.
• Firmware 3.0. On top of the PS3 Slim, and price cut, we’re also getting an update to the XMB. The PlayStaton Store is now under the game and videos tab and will link directly to the appropriate sections. The background of the OS gets a little update and we get a new information board, trophy sorting, and a small update to our friends list. We also get a new little mini-bar on the top-right which will let us know how many friends are online (numberwise), the date, time, our avatar and a little blurb of news, like a ticker. Something that I’m looking forward to are Dynamic Themes. Where now you’d have a standard wallpaper – a dynamic theme will have an animated background. A neat update overall, but will probably leave people still complaining about no cross-game voice chat.

And finally, it looks like the PS3 Slim brands a new logo, in what looks like to be a rebranding of the product. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of this because it’s inconsistent with the model I have, but it’s nice to see them actively working to improve their product in all senses.

Ultimately, this puts Microsoft in a bit of a bind. With the rumored 250 PS3 Slim and the price cut, the PS3 now has almost everything that the 360 offers but also has a BluRay drive on top of that. As for Nintendo, they will have to look into a price cut because, like my friend has said, you can buy a much more powerful system for $100 more.

I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with what Sony pulled off yesterday. Almost everything announced was stuff that people were asking for for a long time – Price Cut, PS3 Slim, Firmware 3.0 – and it really makes it look like Sony actively listens to the input.

Hopefully it works out in the end for them – although I guess we’ll have to wait until the reports come in to see if it did or not.

Arkham Asylum was another game that was on my must-rent list. And honestly, I’d probably buy it if our finances hadn’t limited us. I was happy to see a demo of it on the PSN so decided to give it a shot. Not much more to say, so here we go.

• The graphics looked great – even for a 1GB demo. And if this is how it’s going to be in the game … then it’s looking to be a pretty game overall. It goes to show that people are starting to use the PS3 for it’s potential instead of just porting it.
• The fighting mechanics were enjoyable. I can definitely see that this game is going to have stealth elements to it and I’m a sucker for stealth games. (I’m still a big fan of Thief)
• The game looks to play heavily on his tools as well – the Batarang, using a zipline (or whatever it’s called) to go from platform to platform, or to string enemies up, gliding takedowns or silent drops. It gives fighting a non-linear feel to it – you can pick and choose on what you want to do.
• Demo was too short for me. Only about five fighting areas and that was it. I would have liked to have more to play – but ultimately, the point of a demo is to get you wanting more.
• Considering how much you were able to play – a 1GB+ download seemed a bit extreme. You could play more in Call of Duty: World at War and that had about the same file size as this demo.
• Something about Batman’s appearance bugs me. Maybe it’s the blocky face structure, or how the game looks when you’re running – but something just stands off to me.

Positive Points: 3 | Negative Points: 3 | Final Score: 0

I bought this game off as an impulse buy – but I also bought it because it looked like it had comedy, a medieval theme, as well as a RTS/Upgrade System. Plus, the concept of stuffing a princess with cake to make it harder for your opponents to “steal the flag” just seemed funny to me. So, I bought it hoping that I’d find it to be an addicting multiplayer game. And so I bring up an obvious question: “Does it?”

• Graphic style of the game is very cartoonish, but the blood that is spewed lets us know that this isn’t a kiddy game. And I’m a fan of games that stray from the common “realistic” themes that games churn out these days.
  
• The game is based 95% on mulitplayer gameplay – which is great for those looking for a good multiplayer game.
• The class system allows you to choose whichever class you want to be at any time. There’s no in-depth work on creating your character. You rely on grunts to upgrade various classes and castle items but other than that, you can pick as you choose by picking up the appropriate hats.
• The game developers didn’t take the game too seriously. The creators had fun with this game – and that’s something I really like seeing in games. That’s why when you play the story mode, you don’t play “Story Mode” you “Play with yourself.” And did I mention (if I recall correctly) you can kill the developers during the credits? They’re portrayed as normal in-game characters, but you get the idea. Oh, and it goes along with Sir Mix-A-Lot’s song ‘Baby Got Back.’
• Titan Studios has plans to update the game with new levels and classes. I’m happy to see them continue to expand on the game. No word on whether it will be a free patch or paid DLC.
• The Story mode was entirely too short – could be cleared in an hour if you want to. Granted, this game focuses mainly on multiplayer, but really? One hour?
• Online play has been plagued with connection issues. To their credit, they patched this – but the weird ranking system and lack of a guild/clan system really hurts the idea of teamwork in the game – and you need teamwork to win in this game.
• Classes don’t seem very balanced. I find one class in particular is better than all the others.
• Trophy requirements seem a bit excessive. Winning 100 multiplayer matches will take awhile, as well as over 2,000 kills. Seems a bit extreme for bronze trophies. (although I know they did it so that they could offer future trophies, since PSN games are restricted with trophies to an extent)
  

Positive Points: 5 | Negative Points: 3 | Final Score: +2

I’ve always been a sucker for video games involving superheroes. Whether it’s Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, whatever – if it involves the comic book genre, I’m almost always going to give it a shot. In addition to having a stressful week on all sides, I downloaded the demo of this game with the prediction that it was a game that shouldn’t have high expectations and also a game that would probably be a weekend rental.

• Fun to hack-and-slash your enemies into pieces. Slowdown effects and rage make this game very bloody.
• The cut-scene movies looked very good.
• The controls are simple, yet many combos give it depth. The double-jump is frustrating, though.
• The game offered environmental kills – such as chucking your opponent into spikes, fans, electric panels etc. Very fun.
• RPG/Leveling system is pretty fun. I noticed that you didn’t get enough XP to upgrade everything, so it makes you choose your perks. Mutagens also help with character customization. You have numerous ones but only three can be active.
• Once the game is over, that’s it – no real replayability.
• Boss battles are similar. You use the same technique for all of them. Gets kinda’ boring.
• Graphics were alright, although it looks like it was rushed. Graphics and objects up-close would often look blurry and sharpen up when your characters was standing around – as if it’s “catching up” if that makes sense. The issue I had with it is that this happened to objects up-close, instead of being rendered when they were farther away.
  
• Storyline can be confusing if you’re not really tuned in. While this isn’t a big problem, it kinda’ sucks going through the game without a complete understanding of what you’re doing.

Positive points: 5 | Negative points: 4 | Final Score: +1

So, after I received an e-mail from a friend regarding this gaming blog, I came to a small revelation. It’s a way that I could do this blog and not be bogged down by it at the same time. Here is the problem with the way I previously did the blog – it was too time-consuming. For every game that I reviewed, I had to look into each aspect of the game and nit-pick it. And ultimately, that was a lot of time just thinking of stuff I could write about. That’s not to say that my reviews are bullcrap, but that I sometimes really had to think of what to say regarding controls, music, etc.

So, I’ve decided to try this again – in a Compact mode. All my reviews will most likely be massively smaller, and my rants will also be trimmed down as well. The idea is that my stuff is something that can be read in a matter of minutes and my reviews aren’t page-long reviews.

Instead, I will be basing my new rating system off bullet points. I will highlight what I think were good and bad points about the game. If the game is bad, it’ll have more bullet points in the bad category – it’s really not rocket science. At the end, I’ll summarize the good and the bad and come to my conclusion then. This will also open up a new final rating score that won’t be based off a percentage, 5-star system but rather what the game has more of.

For example … reviewing a game I have 10 good things to say and 7 bad things. The difference will be +3. So the game will have a rating of +3. It’ll obviously work the other way around. If a game has 3 good things and 6 bad things, then final rating will be -3. This will allow me to give a final “grade” to the game while sticking to a simple and quick review method.

I have a lot of games to review, and with this new system, I can pump out reviews in a much quicker method than the old way I did it. So we can look for reviews of the following games coming soon: inFamous, Grand Theft Auto 4, Fat Princess, Burn Zombie Burn, Call of Duty: World at War, and X-Men: Wolverine Origins.

Despite me taking a sabbatical for a indefinite amount of time, I felt that I should at least comment on my thoughts from the E3 expo that happened a few weeks back. Needless to say, I was interested in what was going to happen because I hold the personal opinion that we’re nearing the ceiling in terms of graphical enhancements. Outside of facial expressions and background details, I don’t think we can get much better than what we’re at now. The only real advancements we can make is to make it easier to make these pretty graphics for the developers. That being said, it’s not come down more on innovation, gameplay and creativeness for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

And it looks like Sony and Microsoft succeeded, and Nintendo fell on its face.

Nintendo has really gone the way of re-hash. They haven’t come out with anything new in a long time and it looks like they’re sticking to that. We have gotten news of a new Zelda, Metroid and two new Super Mario games. While I love hearing about new games for my beloved franchises, Nintendo’s lack of anything new (outside of the pulse peripheral) really show that they are content on what they have and have a Apple-esque way of coming out with new things. We don’t see anything really new, just upgrades to what is already there.

Nintendo has been on the chopping block for many gamers because they don’t seem to care anymore. And while I’ll confidentally say that the motion crazy in games is solely because of Nintendo – they really haven’t done much else and have no drive to. Again, the announced games were pretty neat – but c’mon, nothing new since GameCube is pretty bad. Sure, we got a slew of DS games … but isn’t their main product the Nintendo Wii? Or have they decided to go more aggressive with handheld?

Regardless, Nintendo’s announcements were pretty lame compared to what Sony and Microsoft had.

Microsoft’s biggest announcement is Project Natal – which is a pretty advanced motion sensing technology compared to the Nintendo. Unfortunately, this also proved that motion sensing is a long-lasting phase and is not just a gimmick. It’s also Microsoft (and Sony’s) way of admitting that what Nintendo did worked … since they’re doing the same thing.

The two things that I will criticize about Microsoft announcements is the retail games available for download and the 1080p Netflix streams. What’s funny is that 1080p generally streams at 12-22MB/s (as stated by PS3’s BluRay status bar). What this will mean is a large download for the 360 and I think that this technology is still too much for broadband connections. These downloads will be massive and will eaily require a big hard drive to use. The idea of a retail direct-download furthers the shift towards digital downloading and I don’t think people realize how much restrictive this will be for consumers. You don’t really want a digital copy of a game … a physical copy is better. Worst case scenarios will leave people having to buy a game AGAIN after paying a good amount of cash for it.

Is Microsoft’s initiative forward-thinking? Very much so – they’re definitely looking at the future with what they want to do … but technology isn’t ready for easy, quick 1080p downloads and I don’t think people realize that the ONLY real benefit for digital downloads is that you don’t have to leave the house.

I’ll admit, I paid attention to Sony’s conference much more than the others. There was no price drop as people had hoped but they did announce a all-digital PSP Go!, which everyone knew about. At least with the PSP Go! the games will be smaller, but again – I’d like a physical copy, digital downloads are too restrictive for me and DRM will really limit the flexibility you’ll have with the games. While it is pretty, though, there is no real advancement or benefit to the PSP. What you can dow with the Go! you can do with the PSP … it’s just smaller.

Sony also decided to come out with it’s own motion sensing technology – but I just don’t get how people can be stoked for this, but blast what the Wii did. Sure, compared to Sony and Microsoft, the Wii technology is pretty ancient … but it’s the push that got the ball rolling, so I just don’t see how people can’t comment Wii for taking a chance that ultimately led to the competitors doing it – and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The announcement of a new MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV was pretty big to me, seeing as how I’m an MMORPG recovering addict. Now that I can play one on my PS3 probably means that I’m going to dive into that rather than go back to World of Warcraft. However, finding out that it was a timed exclusive to the PS3 was kinda’ dissapointing.

Other games that were shown were GT4, GoW3 and a new LBP-like racing game that shows that the whole “create it yourself” is becoming a pretty popular thing.

So who do I think had the best keynotes? Personally, I think it was Sony with the announcements of the PSP Go, FFXIV and the motion sensing technology. It may also be because I own a PS3 and a PSP.

But what I really liked about the expo is that there were enough announcements to get me excited about the future of gaming. Companies are taking chances instead of just making things look prettier. I think Microsoft’s 1080p download is going to be for the select few with a really good connection … but I like that they’re pushing at it. Both Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are trying new things – even if it is a little pulse indicator.

It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve become pretty excited for video games … I see a lot of things that are coming out that will probably get me to buy it. More specifically – I think the PS3 is finally starting to come around. With GoW3, GT4, the LBP Racing Game, FF13 and FF14 … we’re starting to get to the point where the PS3 has a lot of good promising games coming out rather than the hit-and-miss that happened for the past few years.

I had always hoped that the PS3 would eventually pull foward and it may happen in the next year or so … maybe it was just the complicated cell processor and programming that made it difficult. But now that programmers have adapted to it and are starting to really utilize the power of the PS3, maybe – just maybe – it will be able to dethrone the 360 as the champion of this generation.

Oh it’s true … all you Fallout 3 and Killzone 2 fans can rejoice because I am taking a indefinite hiatus from this blog. It’s not because I’ve been beaten down for my “terrible” Killzone 2 review, but rather personal things that have been going on in my life.

To sum it up in a nutshell, I feel as if I’ve been in a very serious chain of unfortunate events and it’s finally starting to take its toll on me mentally and physically. So I’ve been cutting back on some of the things that have stressed me out – and this blog will be one of them. Granted, writing isn’t stressful but the feeling that I have to update at least twice a week as well as writing out detailed reviews has a tendency to be stressful.

I find myself playing less and less on the PSP and the PS3 and instead just watching television. But, that’s not to say that writing hasn’t been enjoyable … I’m just looking to take a small break. I’m not sure when I’ll be writing again … it could be a few weeks, a few months or maybe never.

But it was fun while it lasted.

My demo review for Marvel vs. Capcom 2 will be the shortest ever. I remember playing the game a few times in the arcade but moreso watching my friend play the game. Back then, it was pretty neat to see players swapped in and out.

So when I heard that it was going to be remade and available for PSN and XBL, I was pretty stoked. And I was really stoked when I heard the PSN was going to get an exclusive demo. So, a day after it was released and 200MB later, I installed the game and played it.

After playing around with it, I realized … the only playable mode was local multiplayer. I couldn’t play single player! Or online battles! The only two options available were local multiplayer and all the options!

What an absolute waste of time and space! Why not … allow five matches in single player. Why confine the exclusive PSN demo to local multiplayer – something that is considered a dying trend to many people? What in the hell was Capcom thinking? I guess this game is aimed at people who have local friends that own a PS3 or people who have an extra PlayStation controller.

So the demo failed at what it tried to do, which is to give gamers a taste of the game. So unless you have two PlayStation controllers lying around, don’t bother downloading this demo.