Monster Hunter Portable 3rd is one of the better looking PSP titles out there. The amount of detail from the village to the maps is really a step in the right direction. The steam from the kettles to the flags blowing in the wind really add to the cheery atmosphere the village aims for. The color palette in the game is bright and cheerful and is prominent throughout the few hundred hours of game play. Monsters are extremely detailed and show real time damage as the battle progresses. The game looks so good that revisiting previous titles will cause you to cringe. The areas take on a completely new look from night and day with small details like stars and mist only adding to the feel of the game. The armors and weapons have hundreds of small details showing other players immediately that you have crafted an armor piece from said monster. They still haven’t managed to clean up the HUD, which ,in my opinion, has way too much going on. I often find myself not grabbing the map so I don’t have to stare at it taking up the right side of the screen. Take into account other players’ health and names are displayed on the left below the stamina and health bar and you have a lot going on. Story and Gameplay Lets get one thing out of the way here, Monster Hunter has never ever been about a story. The typical scenario is you’re a Hunter and your job is to hunt. You move up the ranks fighting harder and harder monsters while crafting better and better gear, which sometimes requires you to kill a certain set of monsters numerous times to do so. They typically end with a scenario of a great monster invading and you must repel or kill it to save the village. That is the same scenario here. So if you want story you wont find it in this title, or any other Monster Hunter title for that matter. I found 3rd to be much too easy for previous fans of the series. What should have taken me a solid 100hrs in single player I blew out in 32hrs. The team behind 3rd is obviously trying to make this entry more appealing to first time players, and in that sense they have succeeded. Only until the later Monsters will you begin to let out a couple of curse words at your PSP screen. Nothing that will make you decide to quit, as the 3 chances you get is always enough. The camera is debatable. You need to constantly adjust the camera while fighting to keep your target in sight. This is done with the left D-Pad and L trigger. The L trigger centers the camera directly behind you and the D-Pad controls like a right analogue. I enjoy the constant battle with the camera as I feel it adds to the intensity of a big battle. We’re going to knock some points off here as I am probably a small percentage of people with that view. Felynes Monster Hunter 3rd brings over the ability to hire a felyne, with a few minor changes. You can now hire 2 and equip them with custom armor and weapons from scraps left over by your gear creation. Having 2 helpers is what makes the game so much easier in my opinion. The Monsters you hunt wont be focused on you, constantly allowing more breathing room to heal and craft traps and bombs while they pummel your hired mates. Felynes will also be able to be sent out on hunts and mining quests, allowing you to gather more materials while you quest on your own. This is a welcome addition, as it cuts down on the time required gathering rare materials. The guild hall returns for multilayer and recycles many of the single player quests but with harder monsters for the first few ranks. The higher ranked quests become extremely hard, throwing 2 monsters at you simultaneously. The higher rank you are, the harder the objective becomes and better gear becomes available to craft. The G rank level quests will have you fighting subspecies of previous monsters that are 10x harder. So if you thought the Barroth was hard the first time, wait until you meet his little brother. You can import Monster Hunter 3rd from here if interested, or wait for the import version of the PS3 to be released from the same site. A North American release has not been announced for the PSP or the PS3 at the time of this review. Look for an update to the review on the differences found in the PS3 version when released. Review Pros Cons Gorgeous Game Replayability is high Great for beginners to the series Not as deep as Freedom Unite Seems too easy Lack of infrastructure Constant camera work needed Rating 90%

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Monster Hunter 3rd Import Review – PSP

Welcome back! Or did you just get here? Mmm, I could have sworn you were here 10 minutes ago… didn’t you take Einstein for a walk? Anyway, please start over here so we can get back to work. The space time continuity is at stake! It’s hard to review Back to the Future:The Game without making this a huge spoiler post since I can’t make sure you’ve all played episode 1 (which you should since you can get it for free on PC legally from Telltale themselves to get a taste of the series). Ok, here it goes: the things Marty did in Episode 1 have altered the timeline, which has now become compromised, and he and Doc must return to the past and try to fix everything before it’s too late. Vague enough for you? If not, here’s a spoilerrific description of episode 2: Short but sweet! After giving his grandfather a subpoena to testify against Kid Tannen, Marty returns to 1980 and realizes that the timeline has been greatly changed thanks to the Tannen crime family rising to power unopposed for decades… and Marty is at a huge risk of being erased from existence! It’s up to him and Doc to go back in time and make sure that his grandfather is safe and Kid Tannen is brought to justice for there to be a tomorrow for the Mcfly! And to top that off, a spoiler protected trailer: Time traveling… what a concept! Since you’ve already read the Episode 1 review (you DID follow that link, right?), we can get on with the show, and oh what a show it is! This is a very, very fun game. I love point and click adventure games and to prepare me for this review I played all five episodes of Tales of Monkey Island as well as Episode 1 of Back to the Future on PS3 during a 2 week marathon… even if I had already played Ep. 1-3 of Monkey Island (own the Collector’s Edition) and Ep. 1 of Back to the Future on the PC (buy them multiple times to support Telltale so they can get more licenses and we get more games!). Seeing Young Doc interact with Marty and then have him interact with Doc right after that is very interesting since you can see how many of his traits as an adult had already developed at such a very young age… even if his father had other plans for poor Emmet. Edna Strickland is a great character presented to us in the Back to The Future Episodes since she helps move the story along while bringing something new to the table. She fits right in with what was going on back in 1931 (she’s pro-prohibition which means booze is a huge no-no on her book) and she talks the talk and walks the walk. The fact that she’s related to Gerald Strickland is even better and it allows us to see how much care and effort has been placed into this new take on the Back to the Future universe. Writing is spot-on and everything feels just right. Really makes you wonder what would have happened if we had gotten a 4th movie in the franchise.. maybe in 10 years CGI can deliver it to us with the original actors providing voice-overs? Just look at what Tron: Legacy was able to do for Bridges and tell me it’s not possible. Telltale has definitely gotten better at this since all the puzzles and their solutions instantly make a lot of sense. Having this be set on the Back to the Future universe also helps since a crazy universe makes for a crazy, but fun-fun game (hellooooooo Sam and Max!). Episode 2 is about 2 to 3 hours long but we’re used to it by now since it’s an episode that is part of a larger story arc and playing it one episode at a time allows us to really appreciate each installment since smaller bursts of entertainment are always more fun (right? Let me know if you favor longer game sessions or shorter ones of about 20-40 minutes at a time). Being a fan of the franchise isn’t a requirement but it reaaaaally adds value to your purchase since knowing the ins and outs (well, just the ins might be enough) of the movies will help in bringing a smile to your face at every turn thanks to the great care that was taken to provide such a special experience. Buy the Trilogy, now on Bluray! Just a reminder. Only way to get this on PS3 is to buy a season pass which gets you the already available episodes and then you’ll be notified of when the others are available at the PSN Store just for you (and for everyone else that also bought a season pass. Making a game for one person is not economically viable). Review Pros Cons Point and click brought to a console environment again… and we want more! Great artstyle Episode means we have to wait for the next one to be completed and I want to play them all NOW Rating 90% Published by Telltale Games Developed by Telltale Games Cost – $19.99 (Full season pass) Available on PSN Other Information Disclaimer – A copy of the game was supplied by the publisher for this review. – Game was completed before writing this review. – Total amount of time played: 3 hours.

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Back To The Future Episode 2 Review

“Who’s up for some FREE new maps for Dead Space 2 Multiplayer? The team has been working hard to bring you new and exciting maps, and they’re proud to bring you their latest and greatest for FREE. Return to The Sprawl in the two new multiplayer maps; The Academy and The Concourse. This new Outbreak Map Pack will be available May 31st on XBOX Live and June 3rd on PSN.” Source: Official Dead space Facebook Page

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Free Maps Coming for Dead Space 2 Multiplayer

Greetings true believers! Your lil’ pal FooBear408 once again has hopped on the old soapbox to audition for position of town crier. Basically, I’m willing to talk for anyone who’ll listen. This being my first serious review of a game that isn’t all that serious to begin with.  Whether you’re playing as a raccoon who sports a black lone ranger mask complete with newsboy/berét, or my personal favorite: the low budget and not so smug version of Bender from Futurama – Clank – you’ll be kicking ass and taking names in no time. And in conclusion to this first riveting paragraph: there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that this game gets repetitive – fast. And the game, as a whole, leaves something to be desired for the hardcore fans. The good news is there’s no more bad news. Beginning this game on a school night (which is a weekday night in the adult world), my time was precious and I was hoping against hope for a not-so-long-and-drawn-out tutorial before I actually got to play. Not the case; controls are simple and easy to understand. There’s some announcer that has a booming voice like Elaine’s boss from Seinfeld, so instruction is clear, cut, and understood quite easily. And after the quick and even easier to do calibration for the navi controller and move controller, what was to follow would be a relief. The first level I was thrust into was quite challenging at first, but after several tries, I became pretty proficient. First things first, though; what hero suits you best? There’s Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and Jak & Daxter. PlayStation Move Heroes is little more than a series of repetitive mini-games that utilize the not-so-expansive range of the PlayStation Move peripheral to begin with. Point. Pull. Spin. Shoot. Rinse & Repeat. This game seriously reminds me of a motion controlled Spyro the Dragon game, and Spyro was ten times more fun. PlayStation is kind of grasping at straws with the piecemeal gameplay and the shoddy graphics; tons of motion blur abound when action gets fast, and to be honest, it’s not something to be admired when you plunk down 40+ dollars on any game title. Actually, the whip-based games are probably some of the most mind-numbing fun mini games on this title. You get to destroy monsters with ease and just go plain crazy on them at the same time. All the meanwhile defeating objectives and getting points for critical gameplay progression and level unlocks. The controls get a little sloppy sometimes, but you can usually make up for it by just waving your move controller around like you’re having an epileptic fit or recalibrate your controller if that still doesn’t help. Now, aside from the general gameplay/graphics/repetitiveness of the game,interesting side note: none of our beloved heroes’ original developers have been involved with this title or the making of character development for the game. It’s like Sony went into a grab bag and picked at random what heroes they were using and told everyone “deal with it.” Kind of disheartening, but I guess Sony owns the rights, so blah, blah, blah. Overall, not a completely terrible purchase for the retail asking price of $40 USD, but I think we have to hope for some sort of learning curve when it’s applied to “Move” games. Let’s face it, how many games out there that are worth playing for the PlayStation Move? Three? Maybe four? I can respect what Sony tried to do here, but as far as the branded “Hero” game goes…gamers may want to plunk down some of their hard earned cash and something else and skip this mediocre title all together.

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FooBear408 Reviews PlayStation Move Heroes

First of all, I’d like to make an apology to Zipper Interactive & SONY for taking longer than expected on this review. A few reasons for that, but the majority of the time was spent waiting for PSN to come back up as I was looking to give the multiplayer a test drive. Now, before I go ahead to give you an overview of the game, I’d just like to clarify that this review is purely based on the single player campaign. As briefly mentioned above, before I got around to give the multiplayer a chance, PSN was taken offline. Hopefully, once PSN is up and running, I’ll be able to give the multiplayer a whirl and give you my thoughts on that too. So, where were we? Ahh…yes. I decided to play the single player campaign on normal mode. The introductory video certainly kept me glued to the screen, but once the game got started I wasn’t quite sure about the initial impression the game was giving me. You start the game in an office building, along with an additional squad of 2 – whom you can control by simply pointing your gun and selecting tactical positions, which they take place and either gun the opposition down while you sit back or cover you when you decide to go all gung ho. The concept of the game is to work as a team, and even in the single player, you find yourself in situations where you cannot progress unless you decide to distribute your squad members into specific positions where they can clear the road for you to proceed. However, if your tactical positioning fails, they’re very likely to get shot down. The first stage provides some very average experiences and a very slow start. The 1st stage felt like it was merely created for you to simply get used to the controls, all due to the fact the continuous prompts that kept popping on screen to advise you of the weaponry you can use at that particular moment in time. Gameplay The gameplay also felt a little dated, and at times, it felt like I was playing the game on a PS2, but with much better graphics and with the added functionality of the Move wand. Even though new technology features have been added, a little attention to detail where gameplay & storyline is concerned couldn’t have gone amiss. Even though I do have PlayStation Move, I’ve always preferred to play games like SOCOM using the sixaxis/dualshock controlller. I guess I should’ve given the Move wand a try before writing this review. Heck, I’ll do just that and update the post at a later date. So, the review so far does sound a bit harsh, doesn’t it? The game starts slowly, but I do have to advise that it does start to pick up gradually as you move through the levels. However, I just didn’t feel that urge to pick up my controller and play this game for hours on end. This game had a more casual feel to it. So, you’ve moved past the 1st level and you’re used to the controls; your squad then gets increased from a squad of 3 (including yourself) to a squad of 5 as soon as you complete around 2% the 2nd level. Even though I only managed to play through majority of the single player campaign, I couldn’t help but get a feeling that the multiplayer for this game was the main focus point – in fact why kid myself – multiplayer these days is the main focal point on 99% of the games that are released. AI The AI could be improved. At times, right in the middle of gun fights, the AI simply ran into my gunfire. There were times when I managed to walk past the enemies, whereas, if I attempted that same level again, the enemies easily spotted me and my squad and completely battered us with bullets. Graphics The cut scenes look great. When the initial single player campaign video came on, I was amazed by the quality of the character texture and facial expressions. The actual gameplay graphics are also good. Due to most of the gameplay taking place over the shoulder (maybe I’m missing a point here – camera views? I think I should look into this), the background scenery on my 37″ Full HD TV looked colourful, but pretty standard. I mentioned above, once PSN is back, I hope to review the multiplayer aspect of the game. I do think I may have been a little harsh whilst doing the review, but I may be proven wrong once I get to taste the multiplayer portion of the game. Review Pros Cons Cut scenes look great The ability to command squad members into tactical positions Total gameplay exceeds 30+ hours (including cutscenes) AI needs to be improved. You can either get your hands dirty in gun fights or just sit back and let the AI do the work (maybe that’s a Pro as well?), and the AI needs to realise when it’s getting shot at rather than run directly into gunfire. Single Player Campaign plot is too weak, and, at times, boring Rating 68%

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SOCOM 4 (a.k.a SOCOM Special Forces) Single Player Review

It’s been a while since I’ve written an article/rant for a while and I’ve kept quiet for some time now about the whole Playstation fiasco – until now. Read on… Let’s set the record straight: Timeline of Events April 19, 2011. 4:15PM PDT – Sony Network Entertainment America (SNEA) network team detects unauthorized activity in the network of 130 servers. Specifically, machines were “rebooting when not scheduled to do so.” Analysis begins. April 20, 2011. Early Afternoon – SNEA engineers discover evidence of “unauthorized intrusion” and that data had been removed with PlayStation Network servers. PlayStation Network shut down by engineers, taking 77 million registered PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts offline. Sony retains service of computer security and forensic consulting firm. April 21, 2011 – Sony retains services of second computer security and forensic consulting firm. April 22, 2011 – Nine of ten compromised servers are mirrored by Sony and security firms. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) general counsel provides FBI with information about the intrusion. A meeting with the FBI is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th, 2011. April 23, 2011. Afternoon – Forensic teams confirm that intruders used “very sophisticated and aggressive techniques to obtain unauthorized access, hide their presence from system administrators, and escalate privileges inside the server.” April 24, 2011. Easter Sunday – Sony retains additional forensic team with “highly specialized skills” to “determine the scope of the data theft”. April 25, 2001 – Teams confirm account details compromised, including name, address, country, email, birth date, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login, handle and network ID, but remain unsure if any of the 12.3 million global credit cards stored on the servers were compromised. April 26, 2011 – Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America provide public notice of the intrusion and alert regulatory authorities in New Jersey, Maryland, and New Hampshire. April 27, 2011 – SCEA alert regulatory authorities in Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Puerto Rico. May 3rd, 2011 – Sony Chairman Kaz Hirai sends letter to Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade explaining details of intrusion. Now two things come to mind when reading that timeline: 1.  Fifteen days is a really long time for any conglomerate like Sony to take a hit and stay down as long as it has. 2. That entire timeline was “borrowed” from Kotaku.Com, mostly because I’m too lazy to write anything that in-depth. – But seriously folks…when was the last time something like this happened? Some time ago would be the correct answer. And what’s more, when it did happen, it wasn’t for very long. And it certainly wasn’t at the hands of some diabolical hacker group that has nothing else better to do than to ruin everyone else’s fun. Now, I’m quite positive that a little light googling would produce a better and more than accurate answer for the ‘net nerds, but let’s remember folks – laziness wins that round. I’ve personally had my PS3 since day one. I’ve bought controllers, then upgraded to the dualshocks. Then, my fat boy 80gb konked out and then I upgraded to the slim model (see one of my older articles for that story) and was able to get my 80gb repaired. Now it’s enjoying the leisurely life in office for some occasional Netflixin’ at the request of Mrs. FooBear. She enjoys it and has been known to rock the cotton candy pink dualshock on occasion.  What’s your point, Foo? My point is this loyal reader: how many countless hours upon hours of quality entertainment and next level online gaming has your PS3 provided you?  And let’s not forget – all at a cost of ZERO dollars to you, friend-o. I get it though, you pay for a product and you’d like it to perform the way it’s supposed to. And at the end of the day, you’d like to go online and knife some dude in the back who’s been camping all day on the “Berlin Wall” map for COD…but you can’t. It’s out of your control. The best thing you can hope for is yet – another vaguely worded “update” considering the future of the bigger, badder, faster, stronger PlayStation Network. And let’s get down to brass tacks already, OK? To all the whiners out there…knock it off. Stop it already, please? PlayStation will announce the restoration of the PSN Network when they’re good and ready. In the meantime, do what I’ve done and do work on single player campaigns on the games you’ve never even attempted single player on because you hop right online and go nuts. It’s true – search your feelings. Or you could tackle that taunting jigsaw puzzle of the Grand Canyon that’s spread out on your kitchen table that’s waiting for you. Waiting. Judging.  Watching. Laughing. Oh – you’ve lost a piece have you now? Well, looks like it’s time to send out a search and rescue team. But little do you know, it’s too late and the piece has been eaten by a little white ball of evil known to world as “Figby” and later will be regurgitated into a nice pile of rancid puke on your grandmothers living room carpet.  Sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah. Activities… my fearless gaming friend, are the spice of life. So go outside and ride a bike or do something productive. Any type of sunlight for some of you hardcore gamers is highly recommended. Community service is always a great way to give back and utilize your time in a productive. Keep in mind, that I would probably do none of these, but just the same, I would find something to occupy my time. Plus, I have Mrs. FooBear to irritate and entertain me. Not in that order of course, but the point being is that I have someone. In closing, we as a gaming community, have been through a heapload of horsesh*t and nothing would make me happier than to curl up on the couch and do work on some SOCOM 4, especially online portions of that fantastic game. Sadly, I can’t. There’s good news and bad news, though. The good news is this will be all over soon and we’ll be able to yell and curse at complete strangers and instantly feel better about ourselves. The bad news? You may have endure for a little while longer and actually develop some sort of skill set that you didn’t even know you were capable of. Just remember, the night is always darkest before the dawn. And yes, that’s from Batman.  Laziness, people.

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PlayStation Network Outage: FooBear408 Weighs In

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

Recap Old habits die hard, right? I didn’t mean for this one to be late, but I’ve been all over the place trying to get things taken care of and haven’t really had the time to work on this. Anyway, enough with the excuses. Here are some highlights from last week: Battlefield 3 is going to have a huge ad campaign to have better market share with the title and to, maybe, take a lot of the thunder away from the Call of Duty series. Anonymous has been proving to everyone that what they’re doing is of great annoyance, NBA Elite is still having problems and will not have a 2012 title, and Jason informed us of some general maintenance with how to clean the PS3. A number of trailers and videos have been released as well, including Twisted Metal (with a release date reveal), LA Noire, and InFamous 2. Even screens for Alice: Madness Returns and Battlefield 3 have made an appearance. If you’re into reading reviews, we have a handful of those as well. EdEN had reviewed both MiniSquadrons and Swarm, and Madagasca has reviewed Yakuza 4. We also have a few more reviews coming soon, so keep an eye out for those as well! Community News & Game Nights Not much new, but if you’re one of our co-writers, be sure to check out the co-writers group as I have been compiling a lot of resources for you guys to help make things easier for posting news. Hopefully you use these resources to your advantage! Also, don’t forget, we still have double points going on for a few more days in certain areas, so capitalize on that! Although the posts we had last week are, by now, pretty irrelevant on the account of me being so late with this recap, but we do have the FEAR 3 water bottle giveaway winners, as well as the winner to the PSP game Vertigo. Also, we’re heading into the home stretch of the Portal 2 giveaway so if you haven’t entered yet, what are you waiting for? We have even increased video entries to count as 7 ! And since I might be late with the next recap (hopefully not, though), there’s also a chance for you to win Swarm as well, as we’re giving away 2 copies of the hit PSN title! We also have more giveaways planned in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled! 25 Articles // 15 QuickNews Contributor of the Week Oly & Luke – 4 Entries QuickNews Contributor of the Week Jason – 6 Entries Most Liked Eddie – E3 Details Leaked by French Sony Employee *Rumor* – 38 Likes Most Comments Jason – Do You Love Your PS3? – 36 Comments Game nights have been pretty consistent the past few weeks, usually landing on Thursdays. Tosh had posted a recap from the March 31st event, and then later set up another game night for April 7th. And don’t forget, there’s another Killzone 3 game night tonight, so be sure to take part! Gaming News Mushroom Wars: Online Add-On Available Oly on April 4th, 2011 9 Comments Battlefield 3 Gets Bigger Ad Campaign Ace on April 4th, 2011 6 Comments Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale Fighter Trailer Oly on April 4th, 2011 7 Comments Hactivists Group “Anonymous” Hacks PSN, Blocking Donations to Tsunami Victims Eddie on April 5th, 2011 30 Comments Do You Love Your PS3? Jason on April 5th, 2011 36 Comments Star Drone on PSN Today Jason on April 5th, 2011 2 Comments Portal 2: Aperture Investment Opportunity #3: Turrets Luke on April 5th, 2011 3 Comments Official Review: MiniSquadron (minis) EdEN on April 5th, 2011 4 Comments Killzone 3 Patch 1.07 Tomorrow Adds Custom Games Oly on April 5th, 2011 11 Comments EA’s NBA Elite to stay on the bench for 2012, new NBA Jam announced MAINEiac4434 on April 5th, 2011 7 Comments Official Review: Yakuza 4 Madagasca on April 6th, 2011 6 Comments PlayStation + Android Wish List Darrin on April 7th, 2011 9 Comments E3 Details Leaked by French Sony Employee *Rumor* Eddie on April 7th, 2011 12 Comments Move Along, Nothing to See Here! Meet L.A. Noire Trailer #3 Luke on April 7th, 2011 5 Comments Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Trilogy Set for June 21st Steven on April 7th, 2011 6 Comments Official Review – Swarm EdEN on April 7th, 2011 10 Comments New InFamous 2 Powers Trailer Pedro on April 7th, 2011 17 Comments FREE Killzone 3 DLC, Coming April 12th to PS+ Members Luke on April 8th, 2011 11 Comments Twisted Metal: New Trailer and Release Date Pedro on April 8th, 2011 13 Comments EyePet & Friends Will Have 2 Pets to Play With Oly on April 8th, 2011 2 Comments Battlefield 3: Screenshots, Renders & Concept Art Luke on April 8th, 2011 5 Comments New Alice: Madness Returns Screen Shots Oly on April 8th, 2011 8 Comments Games to Keep an Eye On – Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Jay on April 9th, 2011 4 Comments New to PS3 – Week of 4-12-11 Jason on April 9th, 2011 4 Comments SOCOM 4 Full Deployment Unboxing Pics! Jason on April 9th, 2011 1 Comment QuickNews PSN Might Be Interrupted Throughout the Day Today 4/4/2011 Oly on April 4th, 2011 6 Comments Hackers threaten Sony directly Jason on April 4th, 2011 9 Comments Qore Episode 35 Rundown Jason on April 4th, 2011 3 Comments Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Coming Soon to PSN Jason on April 5th, 2011 1 Comment SOCOM 4 Open Beta Today! Jason on April 5th, 2011 3 Comments New Brink Gameplay Video Luke on April 5th, 2011 3 Comments Rock Band 3 Dirt Cheap! Luke on April 5th, 2011 2 Comments Loot lovers prepare for May 31st | Dungeon Siege 3 Jason on April 7th, 2011 8 Comments Great Weekend Sale 4-7-11 Jason on April 7th, 2011 2 Comments White Knight Chronicles II is Confirmed for NA Pedro on April 7th, 2011 2 Comments New Dead Island Screens [UPDATE] Pedro on April 7th, 2011 7 Comments SHIFT 2 Unleashed – Attacking Corners Jay on April 7th, 2011 3 Comments Red Dead Redemption: Pre-Order Bonuses Finally Coming PSN Oly on April 8th, 2011 4 Comments Resistance 3 Beta Voucher With Socom 4 Oly on April 8th, 2011 11 Comments David Jaffe on the Release Date of Twisted Metal Jay on April 9th, 2011 6 Comments Poll Results If you could design a game, which genre would it be? Can’t see chart? Click Show —-> Results: RPG – 29 Third Person Shooter RPG – 13 Third Person Shooter – 7 First Person Shooter – 5 Racing (Arcade or Sim) – 4 Platformer (2D or 3D) – 3 FPS/RPG1 – 3 Arcade – 2 MRPG – 1 Well, it appears that RPG had dominated this poll, followed by a TPS RPG, and then the shooters. I should have seen it coming, but the results are interesting nonetheless. I’m surprised multiplayer RPG got dead last, though. New Poll There were no decent poll ideas, so I made this one based off of the recent Steam features detailed for Portal 2. Many places say that this implementation can be an XBox Live killer if the relationship between Valve and PS3 grows, as cross-platform play and the ability to download titles that you bought for PS3 onto your Steam account on PC/Mac are very attractive features. What is your opinion of it? – What do you think of the Steam implementation in the PS3 version of Portal 2? Revolutionary It’s Alright PS3 Version Now a Must Buy Didn’t Need It Not a Good Decision View Results

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The Weekly Recap (April 3rd-9th)

I picked a winner at random and the winner is ajescent ! Congrats, we will be sending you a PM with the PSN Code shortly. If you didn’t catch our review on Vertigo, you can read it all here . Don’t worry we have more giveaways coming.

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Winner of the Vertigo PSP Giveaway!

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Official Review: MiniSquadron (minis)