Nerd Rating

Tag: PS3

  • Dead Island: Riptide Confirms Our Worst Fears. Zombies Can Swim.

     

    Deep Silver has released the first images from their follow up to 2011’s Dead Island.

    Called Dead Island: Riptide the game sees the four survivors from the first game caught in a monsoon that wrecks their rescue vessel and strands them back on the island they thought was in their rearviews. Now if that sounds like a bit of a cop out for a sequel the developers are the first to tell you that this is not a sequel to Dead Island. It is a full game but it is more of a massive full game add on to Dead Island.

    That’s not to say that you will just be able to run around the island you knew. The monsoon has completely change the layout and environment of the land. This gives you a chance to play in the new weather system in the game’s engine. Weather will adversely affect what you are doing with flood areas and boat missions complete with swimming zombies. If zombies really can swim there is nothing we can do!!

    Also there will be a bit of tower defense action going on with defense missions where players will have to build fencing areas, place turrets and set traps for oncoming zombie hordes. Check out the new images below.

    Dead Island: Riptide will release sometime in 2013 and has already been announced to have a $50 price tag.

  • Star Wars 1313 Developers Want To Take You To Hell

    One of the games that really blew me away at E3 this year was Star Wars 1313. It is at least trying something new for a Star Wars game. Focusing on the life of a bounty hunter in a M-rated Star Wars universe, you descend to the lower levels of the capital city of Coruscant and blast your way through your fair share of scum and villainy.

    This web documentary gives the developers a chance to show off some of the amazing E3 game footage as well as concept art while they explain what they are attempting to accomplish with this risky entry into the Star Wars universe. Take a look and see what you think.

  • Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 Care Package Doesn’t Care About Your Wallet

    Not to be outdone by Borderlands 2’s Loot Chest, Activision has announced the Care Package for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The chest comes equipped with all the bells and whistles that will let everyone know in the parking lot of Gamestop that you love Call of Duty more than anyone. A steelbook edition of the game, excluisive DLC maps, 360 avatars, PS3 themes are what to expect with any type of collector’s edition of a game but the real draw of this has to be the remote-controlled MQ-27 Dragonfire Drone because….well it flies. Yeah.

    The Care Package will set you back $180 so get to saving.

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  • New Skyrim DLC Announced. Be Bob The Dragonborn Builder

    While PS3 owners are still waiting on the first Skyrim DLC, Dawnguard, Xbox users can look forward to a new pack releasing on September 4 and this time you can release you inner construction worker.

    The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Hearthfire will let players buy a piece of land in Skyrim that they can then use to construct their own house. You can build everything from hand and furnish the interior with trophy cases and stands for enemies you have killed. You can also hire stewards to take care of your home and give money to them so they can help furnish your home or go out and buy supplies.

    Not content with just having this be SimHouse Skyrim, the pack will also give you and your spouse the ability to adopt children. Be the best Brad and Angelina you can be while you go off and do the devil’s work (if you are the massive vampire from Dawnguard) then come home to a loving family.

    Take a look at the video below to see more of what you can do in Heartfire. The new pack releases September 4 and cost 400 MS Points.

  • New Game Releases. Week Of August 26, 2012.

     

    Madden NFL 13 (PS3, 360, Vita, Wii) $59.99-PS3, Xbox/ $49.99- Wii/ $39.99- Vita

    It’s Madden. Really, by now you know if you are going to get this or not. Reviews have been better than the past few years but this will mark the eighth year where I will say “There’s no way it can be be better than NFL 2K5 right?”

    Guild Wars 2 (PC) $59.99

    With almost every MMO going to a free to play model now or in the near future, it appears that the first Guild Wars was way ahead of the curve and has begun a trend. Guild Wars 2 looks to continue the success of it’s predecessor with a story that is set 250 years after the events of Guild Wars.

    Rock Band Blitz (Xbox LIVE, PSN) $15

    Music games may be dead (or hibernating…who knows) but Harmonix is not going to let Rock Band fall by the wayside. Reaching back to their roots Rock Band Blitz lets players play through 25 songs on their controllers with a rhythm game that harkens back to their earlier releases, Amplitude and Frequency. Songs include offerings from: Foo Fighters, Avenged Sevenfold, Queen, Barenaked Ladies and more. The 25 song setlist can also be transferred to your Rock Band 3 playlist for no extra cost as well.

    Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (PSN) $15

    Released a few weeks ago on Xbox, now PS3 owners can share in the retro goodness of the first two Tony Hawk games. Check out my review here

    Ratchet and Clank Trilogy (PS3) $29.99

    It has already been ten years since the first Ratchet and Clank blasted it’s way onto the PS2 with it’s colorful style, amazing platforming and insane weapon inventory. Now to celebrate Insomniac is releasing the first three games in one collection. Ratchet and Clank, Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal get an HD upgrade with only a 30 dollar price tag. This easily wins bargain of the week. If you have not played one of all of these do yourself a favor and get on it!

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  • Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC Gets A Trailer

    Mass Effect’s latest single player DLC is about to hit on August 28 and has Commander Shepard searching for a mysterious being known as Leviathan that may be strong enough to destroy a Reaper. The trailer look gives us a glimpse of what looks like some underwater mech action.

    Being a Mass Effect nut I am looking forward to diving back into the universe but I am wondering how fans who were critical of the game or it’s ending(s) will feel about playing what can only be called a prequel to a known ending.

    Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC releases on August 28 on PSN for $10 and Xbox LIVE for 800 MS Points.

  • Playstation 4 May Run At 4K Resolution

     

    Sony wants your Playstation 4 (or Orbis, who knows) to look very, very clear. Rumors are circulating that Sony’s next iteration of the Playstation will come ready to support the high resolution televisions. Right now the only way that will happen is if you are worth more than most Sony executives since their own brand of 4K television will be releasing this fall in an 80 inch version for a cool $30,000.

    But this is always how Sony operates. They are known for future proofing their systems. The PS2 coming equipped with a DVD drive and the PS3 with a Blu-Ray player were huge reasons why those platforms became a mainstay in homes worldwide so this is just another smart move by Sony to ensure the PS4 has a long shelf life.

    I will be taking donations for a new 4K TV soon. Hello Kickstarter.

  • WWE 13 Roster Reveal Video

    THQ may be on hard times right now but one thing we can still be assured of is that we will see the release of WWE 13 this October and they are swinging for the fences with the largest roster in the game’s history. Over 80 wrestlers including a slew of Attitude Era superstars will be appeating in this year’s version. Here is the full roster on one handy video. Enjoy !

    Video from IGN.

  • Review: Spec Ops: The Line

     

    Moral choices in games are not a new thing. We’ve all played games that give us choices that affect the outcome of a game either for the good or the bad. Spec Ops: The Line takes those black and white morality conundrums and smears the line with a new shade of grey where there is no right and wrong, just bad and worse.

    You play as Martin Walker, a captain in the Delta Force Squad. You and two strike team officers, Adams and Lugo, drop down into Dubai to search for a missing colonel. But this Dubai is not the sprawling Arabian city that we all know. This Dubai has been decimated by a massive sandstorm that has left the city in shambles and the number of survivors unclear.

    As you and your men delve into the city you quickly realize that not everything is as it appears to be. The man you are looking for, Colonel Konrad, who vanished trying to evacuate the city, may be the man that has taken over the city with the remains of his unit, the 33rd. Here is where some of your moral dilemma begins when the 33rd begins attacking you and you and your men are forced to kill American soldiers to stay alive. And believe me when I say that this is an easy decision to make when compared to the actions you are forced to take later on.

    That is where this game really sets itself apart. Even with all my playthroughs of the Mass Effect trilogy or Knights of the Old Republic I knew pretty much which direction I was heading in with my decisions. With Spec Ops I was truly sitting there thinking about not just how my decisions affected Walker or his team but also the refugees left in the city. It’s a lot of weight on one’s shoulders….and it’s just a game.

    A game this heavy would not be near as good if the writing was not up to snuff and I have no problem in saying that head writer Walt Williams has crafted and solid script that resonates even now that the game is done. I can only imagine how hard it must be to write for a game and try to get players to truly connect with your character hoping that nothing gets lost from the page to the screen.

    While the gameplay won’t win any awards for innovation, it is a serviceable cover based shooter. Cover doesn’t feel as tight as Gear of War but it gets the job done. There are instances of taking cover on the wrong side of a corner leaving yourself open for a backside full of enemy ammo or not being able to vault over things when you absolutely need to in the middle of a firefight but none of these things make the game unplayable. It is good, not great. The shooting mechanics feel right and the selection of weapons is a good size without being too much to grasp.

    Of course, with almost all games now, there is multiplayer but it is not anything to write home about. You have your basic class and faction selection and weapon loadout. I wish there was more to say about it honestly. It is a bit bug filled and has a few problems. This is a single player game at its heart and I can’t help but feel that multiplayer has been tacked on.

    I did have a lot of fun with Spec Ops: The Line. It is a game that kind of snuck up  and surprised me in a good way especially with its balls to tell a story that is more about what can go wrong with our decisions, not what goes right.

     

    NERD RATING- 8/10

     

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  • 2012 Fall/ Winter Video Game Preview Part Deux

     

    • Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale- Oct 23 (PS3, Vita)

    There is no hard way to describe Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Have you seen, played or otherwise heard about Super Smash Bros.? It’s that….with Playstation characters. Don’t get me wrong, I am not faulting the game for it because I love Smash Bros. and I am definitely going to be getting this. Of course there are small differences in the gameplay but it is still a four player beat em up. Characters are slowly trickling out leading to the October release and include the likes of: Cole McGrath from Infamous, Jak and Daxter, Kratos and Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal.

     

    • Assassin’s Creed 3- Oct. 30 (360,PS3, Wii U)

    Another year, another Assassin’s Creed game. I will admit I played 1 & 2 but after that I just lost interest in running around Italy and Europe caring about what Da Vinci is doing. Ubisoft was dangerously close to turning this into the Tony Hawk of action games. Then the reveal of Asassin’s Creed 3 came and it showed a switch in timeline to the American Revolution and I got excited. And for the better part of the year, every time they have shown new footage I have been more impressed. You will be running from snow tipped treetops and even commanding ship in cannon battles. Ubisoft has said that this game will also be the end to Desmond’s storyline.

     

    • Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation- Oct. 30 (PS Vita)

    Finally! A big name game to play on my Vita! A man can only live on so many Minis and old PSP downloads. This side story to AC3 sees you take control of a female assassin in New Orleans and the surrounding swamp lands. It will take full use of all the Vita’s features like the gyroscope and front and rear touchpad. Whether those are used well remains to be seen but I am just glad to have a big title on the Vita. I do have to question Ubisoft releasing this the same day as AC3. It seems like it will just get lost in the big release of AC3 and other games.

     

    • Need For Speed: Most Wanted- Oct. 30 (360, PS3, PC, Vita)

    EA has finally done their long running Need For Speed franchise a massive favor by handing over the reigns to Criterion Games, the creators of my favorite racing franchise Burnout. A large open world environment welcomes gamers who will be racing around and evading cops. All info about racing times and takedows, etc. will be loaded automatically to servers and compared to friends in real time. The game is a beauty and seems to keep the spirit of Burnout alive, just in a different package.

     

    • WWE 13- Oct. 30 (360, PS3, Wii)

    THQ has fallen on about as hard a times as you can have without completely going out of business. But one bright spot is the resurgence of their WWE license last year. By going back and starting development over from scratch and using a vastly improved physics engine, WWE 12 enjoyed massive sales. Now that THQ has raised the bar it is now their task to try and surpass that and they are hoping to do that with the addition of the Attitude Era. The WWE Legends this year will be Attitude Era stars and allow you to play through storylines and shows set in the good old TV-14 days.

     

    • Halo 4 (360)

    Halo 4 is going to be a massive seller this fall. Of that there is no doubt. But even with the millions of guaranteed sold copies that will fly off the shelf this fall this game may be one of the biggest gamble ever for Microsoft. Bungie has left and gone their own way so it is up to 343 Studios to carry on the banner of Master Chief and they have to straddle a thin line of keeping faithful to the original Halo game while trying to blaze a new trail in the Master Chief saga. The first gameplay has looked very good and one can only hope the multiplayer can reach the heights of previous installments.

     

    • Call of Duty: Black Ops 2- Nov. 13 (360, PS3, PC)

    I am the first one to admit that I am not a big Call of Duty fan. I haven’t truly liked a COD game since the first Modern Warfare. I keep praying Activision doesn’t turn this into Tony Hawk but I understand you gotta keep striking while the fire is hot and the COD fire is still burning strong. I will say that I am decidedly intrigued about Black Ops 2. With it’s futuristic take on the franchise, to the script written by David Goyer and music done by Trent Reznor Treyarch is trying to hit the right notes to make me pick this up. And for the COD series, that may be a win.

     

    • Hitman: Absolution- Nov. 20 (360, PS3, PC)

    Eidos is becoming the king of bringing back dormant franchises. While about everyone has seen their footage of Tomb Raider, which is due next year, this fall they are bringing Agent 47 out of mothballs for some more garrote wiring fun. The gameplay is not ground breaking but it looks much smoother and forgiving that previous Hitman iterations. I hope this game turns out as good as it’s looking cause Agent 47 should have many more stories to tell.

     

    • Far Cry 3- Dec. 4 (360,PS3,PC)

    Far Cry is back and it is going back to the jungle. Leaving behind the African savanna for a setting like the first game will be a welcome addition because while I liked Far Cry 2’s openness I did not like the African setting. The thing that really has me excited is the four player co-op play with it’s own story and set of objectives. And one can assume getting mysterious powers during the game will be a guarantee.

     

    One omission is the Wii U. Since there is no release date confirmed I thought I would give the set games their time. We do know that New Super Mario Bros. Wii U should be a launch title as well as EA just announcing that Madden NFL 13, FIFA 13 and Mass Effect 3 would all be available for the Wii U at launch.

     

    This fall doesn’t look as strong as last year but there are still many quality games to be had including some new IP’s which is a nice breather from the sequels.

     

    Happy gaming everyone!!

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