Dragon Age II (released March 8, 2011) is Bioware’s sequel to their late 2009 new RPG IP, Dragon Age: Origins . The new title boasts a dramatically improved graphics engine and combat that is both more fluid and more frenetic than the original’s. However, the new game also has some limitations. Here’s a telling fact, for instance: In DA:O, your epithet by the end of the game is “Hero of Ferelden,” while your moniker in DA2 is “Champion of Kirkwall.” Why does that matter? Well, Ferelden is a country, and Kirkwall is a city. And as that distinction I hope implies, DA2 is a more localized, shorter, and rather meeker affair than its predecessor. Still, it’s a great deal of fun, and if you enjoyed the lore of the first game, you should certainly pick up the latest title. If DA2 had been the first game in the series, it probably would have merited an A in my book. Ultimately, though, the successor falls short of the high standard set by its progenitor, and in the following review, I’ll explain why I think DA2 warrants a B-. DA2 begins contemporaneously with the events that take place in the latter part of DA:O, but DA2 will span ten years’ time instead of about one year, and it takes place in a different area of the world, the city of Kirkwall. One major change that you’ll notice right away is that, while you can choose your gender and class in DA2 (warrior, rogue, or mage), you cannot choose your race or social standing, as you could in DA:O . This is a perplexing decision on Bioware’s part, as one of the real selling points of the first title was that it included six totally different origin stories, each of which entailed about five hours of game play. These introductions really helped personalize the experience of the game. In DA2, you’re a human, your class doesn’t matter too much in the plot (nor does your gender, really, as most everyone in DA2 is, apparently, bisexual), and despite the decisions that you make throughout the game, your gaming experience is more than likely going to be about the same as everyone else. The plot of DA2 does not have the immediacy of DA:O, either. In the first title, you had to stop the advance of a terrible arch-demon and his legions. You know that’s your job from the moment that you complete your origin story, and everything you do throughout the game works more or less directly towards the accomplishment of that task. In DA2, well, you know from the beginning that your character is special and is destined to become a “Champion,” but it’s not clear what struggles you will overcome in the service of that title, and for the vast majority of the game, you are left to find things to do, trusting that when the time comes (when you’ve accomplished missions), the game will direct you toward an important primary mission that will advance the story, such as it is. There’s just no immediate threat, and your character’s main task doesn’t seem to be to save the world as much as it is to accrue wealth and buy a big mansion up on the hill. Still, DA2 boasts some improvements in core game mechanics. As I intimated before, the game simply looks better than DA:O . DA:O’s graphical aesthetics and effects were actually shockingly bad; they looked at least five years behind the times at the moment of the game’s release. DA2 looks respectable for a game today—not as hot as Bioware’s retooled Mass Effect 2 for the PS3, but still perfectly respectable. And these improvements serve to make combat better than ever. Warriors spring into the air and bring their weapons down thunderously on the skulls of enemies. Mages unleash devastating elemental effects and force powers that can throw groups of enemies around like ragdolls. Combat is a quick, messy, and bloody affair. It can be played like a fun third-person shooter/button-masher at lower difficulty levels. But as in the first game, battle can also be paused at any time, and you can, then, issue orders to each of your party members, which they will carry out as soon as you unpause the game. This style is great for the compulsive micromanager, and it is necessary at the higher difficulty levels. Also you can create complex logic trees for your party members to follow in combat, formatted like If/Then statements (e.g. If my health falls below 25%, drink healing potion). Tweaking these command chains is quite rewarding, because in a certain sense, you can make your party members’ AI as smart as you want it to be, and if a fight proves particularly challenging, you may find that modifying characters’ logic quickly changes the tide of battle. In short, combat is fun, fluid, and gorgeous (in a sticky, wetly sanguineous way). However, Bioware really dumbed down DA2 . You have perplexingly more limited control over party members’ inventories now (you cannot change their armor, just their weapons and trinkets, like rings and amulets). And none of the party members are memorable in the same way as much of DA:O’s cast. Conversations follow the Mass Effect model: There’s a conversation wheel and the main character is fully-voiced. Sounds great? Perhaps. But each conversation option has a little icon by it, marking it as “good,” “evil,” “sarcastic,” etc. This makes for a much less immersive role-playing experience. In the first game, you could feel out which conversations options seemed the most ethical, for instance, but it was up to you to puzzle out this sort of thing. Now, if you want to play a “good guy,” you don’t even need to read the conversation options or listen to the conversations; just keep picking the text that has the “good” icon beside it. Bioware has also taken some shameful shortcuts as they rushed this title out the door. There are seriously about half a dozen areas where you’ll keep doing combat over, and over, and over. For example, several times you’ll have to do battle in a mansion or estate. It’s always exactly the same map, despite being totally different places from the perspective of the plot of the game. And guess what? The city brothel recycles the same map as well; it just puts a wet bar in the main hall and lodges ladies (and gentlemen) of the night in the sleeping chambers. There are two or three “cave” maps, there’s one “docks” map, and so on. It would be laughably absurd if it weren’t sort of sad and, certainly, repetitive. The title also has its share of bugs, and, unfortunately, as of the time of this writing, Bioware still hasn’t addressed these with a patch. Bugs run the gamut from headless enemies to peacenik baddies who refuse to fight (i.e. are frozen in place while you wail on them), to bugged bosses that never come down from an inaccessible ledge. Happily, I haven’t heard of any totally game-breaking bugs. Most of the bugs can be solved with a reload of a saved game. See our messageboard thread in which some of us complain about such problems. So, let me reiterate that while I have a lot of complaining here, I did enjoy the game. It’s wonderfully satisfying to return to the world of Dragon Age, having played the original game, the Awakening expansion, and much of the DLC. The essential problem, in my opinion, is that this game feels way too rushed. This would have been fine if it had been another $40 huge, disc-based expansion like Awakening, but, well, it’s not. Here’s a bit of perspective: I put over sixty hours into DA:O, about thirty-five into Awakening, and forty into DA2. And I was being pretty OCD with all of these games; many people report DA2 play time of more like twenty-five hours. Nevertheless, DA2 boasts the new engine, which is great and which legitimates dubbing this a brand-new entry in the series. I just wish that more care had been put into building richer content for the flashy new engine to deliver: expanded story, stand-out characters, smarter dialogue, more original areas to explore (and no recycling of areas!), and complex inventory management. The title just feels half-baked. Maybe another six months of development might have done the trick? Unfortunately, I suspect that Bioware’s strategy is to ask me to subsidize rectifying these failings through DLC purchases. Uncool. Review Pros Cons Return to the Dragon Age universe Shiny new graphics engine Fluid combat designed for consoles (not PC) Too brief Less memorable than its predecessors Too limited in scope Dumbed down RPG elements Rating 80%

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Dragon Age II Review

Valve has released some great videos promoting Portal 2, and they continue to do so, with these two Aperture videos. There will be two more leading up to Portal 2′s release date of April 19th. Also, in-case you have somehow missed it, we are giving away a copy of Potal 2 here . “Don’t miss this investment opportunity from up-and-coming applied sciences company Aperture Laboratories. Find out more about them April 19th, when they go public with their documentary video game Portal 2. This is the first of four videos showcasing the many lucrative products currently in development.” “In this week’s informational video, Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson explains why robots’ll get you the biggest bang for your testing dollar. Don’t wait until April 19th to get in on the ground floor. Invest in documentary game futures today!”

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Portal 2: Aperture Investment Opportunity #1 and #2

Here is a live-action video to help promote Killzone 3 (well, more the franchise itself), which takes place before the war had broken out in the first place. It features two friends, one from each planet, and the obvious negative effects the atmosphere of Helgha has on its people through multiple phone calls. It’s definitely an interesting way of showing the progression of hatred toward the ISA before the war would, eventually, take place.

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Killzone 3 Promo Video

Next week, SHIFT 2 Unleashed will be released, and EA has made the launch trailer for the title public earlier today, which shows off some racing (of course), as well as review scores and comments from said reviews. As a fan of the first one, and hearing about the improvements in this one, I will likely be picking this one up as soon as I can. First, though, is getting my PS3 fixed, which is currently in transit to Minnesota for repair. If you like racing games, keep an eye out for my postponed day-after-Christmas tournament .

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SHIFT 2 Unleashed Launch Trailer

Well, alright! We had another successful Uncharted 2 game night this week! We had a total of 10 people over the course of the night, 9 from the site and 1 of my friends, who tagged along for a short while. Participants included Dean, Kennyg, Jason, Tosh, Sakinah, Ace, Geezus, Kane and myself. You all get 50 points for attending. Belmor had showed up, but seemed to have some connection issues. We started on time and ended up going for 3 hours total, with people slowly dropping over those hours, of course. However, it was all good and fun! Rockets returned in the beginning, and with 9 people this time around (our tenth didn’t show until after my friend left) it was even more hectic. Ace pointed out how he hated the silence during the matches, then there was the sudden whistle and follow up explosion out of nowhere! As people left, and we got low enough to search for matches; we dominated. We noticed how a lot of people seemed to drop midmatch, probably getting tired of being killed, am I right? However, the ‘dropping’ became an issue when there was only 4 of us, waiting for Tosh to return, and we joined a match with 2 others…I, UNFORTUNATELY, got stuck with the other guys in multiple matches. In the last 3v3 game, both my teammates d/c’d and I was stuck…vs Ace Geezus and Sakinah > _> that was…interesting. Honorable mentions: Dean, you ninja, you get a bonus 50 points again for always being so sneaky! Geezus, of course, dominated the scoreboard in the majority of the matches; you get an extra 50. Ace, your now-infamous “Oh my god” awards you a bonus 50. All in all, it was great playing Uncharted 2 again, and with even more people. We all agreed that the game never seemed to get old, and with friends, it’s always fun. I will be working with Ace to make a highlight video; he’s going to record it in HD, and I’m giving him the footage time stamps to record some of the most exciting moments. In the mean time, here are just a few screen captures from some of the games, and, hopefully, I will see most, if not all, of you guys for next week’s game night!

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Game Night Recap – 3/24 edition

After first making an appearance on the Wii and then taking a turn on mobile platforms, de Blob 2 is coming to the PlayStation 3 for the first time in a direct sequel to the original. Since it comes from a motion-sensitive background it is no surprise to see support for PlayStation Move controls integrated into the game, but you need not have invested in Sony’s latest peripheral if you want to enjoy its colorful world for a few hours. The aim in de Blob 2 is to turn the monochromatic world into a hive of colorful loveliness and thanks to the superior power of the PlayStation 3 the graphics are far crisper and more vibrant than on the Nintendo Wii . You move around the eponymous hero and at its most basic it is a kind of paint by numbers platformer where you literally have to follow the required color scheme in order to progress. The story is thin on the ground, but the selection of cut scenes do a good job of bringing the broadly drawn characters to life and the simple black and white of the good versus evil plot is pleasingly reflected in the gameplay, which is not something that can be boasted by many other games. The platforming in de Blob 2 is slick and works well with whichever control scheme you choose to employ. There is a timer which runs down, giving you an incentive to complete objectives or have your progress reset to the most recent checkpoint, but the levels are open enough to allow you a degree of exploration, as long as you can deal with the occasional setback. The game will largely see you navigating the kind of 3D worlds which have been standard fare for over 15 years but occasional side-scrolling sections along a 2D plane help to mix things up and give it a retro feel. The most taxing stages of de Blob 2 can see you shouting at your PlayStation 3 with frustration as you will be required to paint out specific patterns on a course of surfaces and without practice it can become a little confusing. This is all part of the learning curve, but in a game that is designed with a kid-friendly graphical style it might be seen as a small setback. Two players can jump into the game in either split-screen co-op mode or an alternative which mirrors Super Mario Galaxy’s standard setup with one player controlling de Blob while the other takes control of a pointer to achieve secondary tasks and help the first player along. You gain new abilities to help you traverse the tricky platforms and paint with greater finesse as the game progresses and the development team have done a good job of crafting the world in a coherent, cohesive manner. The chirpy musical score, great effects and sharp graphics do not have the realism or grit which is expected in more adult titles, which makes the experience relatively intriguing, particularly for those whose PlayStation 3 game library may contain several Call of Duty titles and God of War III.

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de Blob 2 on the PS3

“Want to take your MLB 11 The Show trash talk to the next level? Well prepare to be SHAFTed by Kevin Butler.” Kevin Butler has just released 5 new training videos to help you up your trash-talking, while playing MLB 11: The Show. He has named his method of trash talking, the S.H.A.F.T. method. The intro video above will link to the 5 steps on youtube, or you may watch them all below. “In the first step of Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T Method, I take you on a ride aboard the S.S. Specificity.” “Step two of Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method and we all learn a very special lesson in being hurtful.” “In step three of Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method we observe what happens when you give your trash talk an international flair.” “Step four of Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method introduces us to the confidence-destroying joys of repetition.” “In the final step of Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method we go where anyone goes when they’re looking for a little inspiration: Tijuana” All quotes were taken directly from the Kevin Butler YouTube page.

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Kevin Butler’s S.H.A.F.T. Method (Trash Talking for MLB 11: The Show)

I bring you news straight from Sony Similar to news already issued from our Japanese and European territories, SCEA can confirm that we are officially delaying release of MotorStorm Apocalypse from its scheduled April 12th date. We will provide more information regarding release timing at a later date. This is not a bad thing in my eyes. They obviously got feedback from the demo that they felt could be worked on prior to a release. Feelings? Source: Official PSBlog

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Sorry Motorstorm Fans

It is here and ready to save you tons of money! Spring Fever returns to PSN along with a few extra goodies. If you have been waiting on that one PSN title there is a good chance it will be reduced in price. Spring Fever begins March 8th and will include PSP and PSN titles. Here is a snip from the Sony Blog: This year, however, we’ve added a new twist. As you know, we just concluded voting for our first-ever PlayStation Network Gamers’ Choice Awards, which gave you the chance to vote for your favorite game in four different categories. We’re still in the midst of tallying the final scores, but we’ll be back here on March 7 to announce the winners and kick-off the first week of Spring Fever featuring the winning games on sale at a 30% discount in the PlayStation Store and available for a 50% discount to PlayStation Plus subscribers. And remember, it doesn’t stop there. Following the one-week sale of our Gamers’ Choice Award winners, we will bring you one new major PS3 release along with a pair of great discounted games each week. Come back here next week to get the full run-down of Spring Fever and find out which games in each category were crowned PlayStation Network Gamers’ Choice Award winners. Source: PSBlog

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It is that time of the year on PSN again

GDC is currently under way and Nvidia has released these in game screens of Battlefield 3 on the frostbite engine. Photos after the jump. The embargo ends today so expect a lot more information and lovely screens to come your way. UPDATE This is a new video that has been released. It seems to be the longer version of the first official in game footage that was released a week ago. Seems like this is the real deal, this isn’t a cinematic we are watching, it’s actual in game footage. Source Mind Channel & Nvidia

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GDC 2011: Nvidia Presentation Shows Battlefield 3 (2x Screens) [Update]