Microsoft @ E3 2012

E3 is well underway, and Microsoft is unveiling a multitude of a amazing games and products during the week.  So far, from what I've seen, Halo 4 is the big name that they're using to provide a current for the rest of the titles to flow through.  If you haven't checked it out yet, take a gander at the live-action trailer on Xbox Live; it gives you a sense of reality for the game that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to feel.

Though Halo 4 may have been the big hitter, as it were, South Park The Stick of Truth is truly impressive for any fans of the series.  You take control of the new kid and take part in an epic battle for South Park in the latest entry to this Comedy Central show.  This trailer is also up on Xbox Live, and it provides more than a few laughs and really gets you psyched for the game's release.

Resident Evil 6...that is all.  Nah, there's more that I have to say.  The trailer made the game look like an adrenaline filled Bond movie that's crossed swords with all of the Resident Evil games since the second iteration.  New and familiar characters clash and join up to take down Neo-Umbrella's plot.  during the game it looks like you make a mad dash throughout the world as you see scenes from all over.  It looks very different from the last few games, but in a good way, not in the ORC way.

What rounds out E3 for me this year is Borderlands 2.  In no way should this game be passed up for lovers of FPS games or RPGs.  It takes elements from both and mashes them up into something greater than the sum of it's parts.  Not only are there millions of gun adaptations to play with, but you'll take control of new characters while meeting old favorites on your journey.

That's what E3 felt like to me this year, a reuinion of familiar games with fans that are eager to get their hands on them, with a few new ones interjected at the correct intervals.  The convention's still not over yet so there's still time for some great new surprises too; keep your eyes open and on the coverage so you don't miss out!

Tutorials

I recently purchased and finished The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition and loved the game.  The entire thing was just a masterpiece in my mind.  Yes, the graphics were not PC quality, but I just feel like the game, and even it's predecessor, were designed to be played using a controller.  There were some menu sorting things that were unnecessarily hard with a controller, but that's nothing that ruins a game.  The one thing that made me balk at the title right from the beginning was the tutorial, and that's what I want to address today.

I can barely recall when this was complex.

Remember back in the NES era?  To learn how to play the game, your only resource was the manual or a friend.  Going into a game like Final Fantasy I without reading the manual was basically video game suicide.  You'd spend quite a lot of time trying to figure it out, and even then you'd oftentimes be stuck at certain points in the game.  Nowadays we don't have problems with games like this, but back in the days without Internet and with the video game industry really starting to get back on it's feet after the crash this game would have seemed entirely new and different.  A tutorial would have been helpful for those gamers new to the market and to RPGs.

This was such a brilliant game.

Advancing forward a few years to the SNES, game developers must have realized the need for tutorials as games became more and more complex.  Two of the tutorials that stuck with me, as the games are both two of my favorites from that system, are from Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy III.  In the former, the tutorial tries to integrate itself into the story as Toad tries to run ahead of Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom and ends up walking into some enemies that he needs help with.  The game essentially uses this as an excuse to have Toad explain to Mario how to attack and use items.  It seems primitive, but it works.  For Final Fantasy III, the developers left the entire tutorial as optional.  In the first town, Narshe, you can enter the house at the very entrance and talk to a bunch of wizened old men who tell you how to play.  The idea is that it's a learning center of sorts and there are some items and experience to be had inside.  If you don't enter the building you aren't penalized in any way and can just move on with the game.  I like that setup since the developers really tried to integrate the tutorial into the game, not slap it on like some post-it note afterthought or with a window that just says, "DO THIS."

Love the game, not the tutorial.

So finally, let's end with a much more recently developed game: The Witcher 2.  As I said, I didn't like the tutorial.  My biggest problem with the tutorial is that it makes you feel like you're going somewhere with the game, like it's the start, and then it just abruptly cuts out after you finish it.  You save some guy with a potion and fight in an arena, all the while thinking that you get all of the abilities you have and keep the items you earned, but that's just wishful thinking.  I don't like this style of tutorial.  I need the tutorial to do one of two things, either be seamless to the story, as in FFIII, or be part of thes story with pop-up windows if need be, like in Kingdoms of Amalur.

I didn't know that I was going to be awarding a winner at the end of this, but I decided that it sounded like a good idea.  I'm giving the Tutorial Award to FFIII.  It's seamlessly integrated into the game, gives you items and experience, and even allows you to skip it entirely without painstakingly forcing you to play along.  That's the best kind of tutorial.  Now only if developers could remember how to do things like that...

Diablo II Real Money Auction House

Remember when you were a kid and wished you could have a job where you played video games and did nothing else?  Well, that probably didn't happen unless you're working in that industry, but now you can get a piece of the action with Diablo III's auction house. 

The real money traded with this feature of the game will be a gamer's to keep.  So theoretically you can play this for 24 hours a day and make some kind of profit, which just boggles my mind.  Now unfortunately you don't really rake in the dough because it takes work to get the items that people want, and only rarer items will bring much in the way of profits, but the idea is phenomenal. 

What's the downside?  Well, none really, except that you can only trade on the auction house in your "home" region.  No trading globally in either of the other two regions that you can play in.  There's also no migrating items between regions, but that's not really a big deal.  Blizzard does charge some fees for putting your items up:

$1 off the to if an item sells
15% transaction fee on stackable items
15% if you move funds to a third-party service like Paypal (there's no charge if you put the funds into your Battle.net account but you can only get Blizzard services and items that way)

But who really cares?  You're making money playing a video game, and honestly, that's the bottom line for me.  Making money playing a video game.

Dungeon Hunter Alliance

I love the Vita boxes; they're so tiny.

First off, I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend.  Secondly, I've said it before, but I'll say it again, buying an iPod Touch or an iPad and getting a game from the App Store does not make you a gamer.  If, however, one of those games is released onto a console with extra content added in, making it a real game in the eyes of the console world, then it's okay.  Sounds like it's just a sneaky way for me to be a hypocrite, but it's definitely not that.  It's a loophole...trust me.

Dungeon Hunter Alliance was developed for iDevices but was eventually ported to the PSN.  After that it was polished a bit more, with added Vita features, and slapped onto the PS Vita in cartridge form.  The idea of the game is that you're a king that was betrayed and now you're back to life trying to avenge your death and your kingdom.  It's a simple idea, and the story is pretty bland, but we're here more to talk about how the game plays rather than how awful and cliche the story is.



There's a lot of great loot in this game, and the Vita tracks the last "epic" loot you found, which is fun to see.



As soon as you get past the first section of dialogue, you're put right into the action.  Dungeon Hunter is a simple hack-n-slash RPG a la Diablo.  The formula is basic:  Kill enemies to get loot, use loot to kill enemies, and embark on quests to get more loot until the end of time.  There are three classes to choose from, Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, and each has a pretty large skill tree to level through.  There are auras, activated, and passive abilities that help you demolish your enemies.

4-person multi player is interesting to say the least.

There can be some slowdown when there are too many creatures on the screen and for whatever reason the standard melee attacks tend to miss if you aren't standing right in front of your target.  There are multiple equipment sets and multiple skill sets that you can create with an auto-equip function to keep you equipped with the best as you plow through the dungeons.

The Vita updates here are minimal: the touch screen controls your fairy power, the camera, and the menus.  Other than those few additions the only real new content included on this version is the multi player.  I haven't had a chance to experience it for myself as of yet, but from what I understand it flows pretty smoothly.  The main issue is that all four players are stuck on the same screen, which really hampers movement from one area to the next.

For what it's worth, this game is fun.  There are a few issues that occurred in it's transposing from the iDevice to the PS3 and finally to the Vita, but I can overlook those since I love the genre and can enjoy many aspects of it.  The main question is this, "Is it worth the $20 extra on the PS Vita from the $12.99 version on the PS3?"  I don't think that's something I can necessarily answer, having not played the PS3 version, but I think that portability alone is something that you need to pay for, and a portable Diablo-esque game is something that can't be passed up.

And this is different than Diablo II how?

Amid much speculation that Diablo III wouldn't be different than Diablo II, we find out that it actually isn't different at all; except that the weapons don't make sense, an online connection is required at all times, and there are new classes (but even those mirror the classes from Diablo II). 

Read the comments after the article, too.  People seem to have pretty mixed opinions, but the overall feeling is disappointment.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention

I have no idea where to start with this game; it's a great game but it feels weird.  It breaks the fourth wall and yet still manages to maintain the dignity of a good Strategy RPG; note that the version that I'm going to talk about is on the PS Vita.  There we go, that's my starting point, the genre.  As you probably have read, SRGPs are one of my favorite genres of all time.  In fact, Final Fantasy Tactics is my favorite game of all time, which I've said enough times to kill an elephant.  In any case, Disgaea 3 is an installment in the Disgaea series, which takes place in the Netherworld. 

Just one sample of humorous dialogue.

In the Netherworld there's an evil school that your main characters are, normally, students of.  Most missions take place in and around the school setting, and your home base and other stats, like Honor Student Quotient, are all based off of a school theme.  It seems kind of silly, but that's only because it is.  The game takes great advantage of the situation and constantly makes reference to itself as a video game, characters playing video games, characters reading comic books, the hero and demon ideals, and a ton of other things that make you chuckle and shake your head.  As you can see from the various screen shots that I have up here, it takes a lot of the qualities from anime and manga that we all so love, which really makes you want to keep up with the story in between all of the great battles.

I like how sharp everything looks on the Vita.

The humor and self-realization of the game are the main things that give it such an enjoyable role-playing experience, but the meat of Disgaea 3 really brings you a great tactical world.  The various stats, HP, SP, Str, etc, all go up to insanely high values, at least 100x as high as your common RPG.  The game itself says that you should spend a million hours playing it...and the anime style, funny dialogue, and strategy elements combined really make it seem like you could spend that much time, and then some sitting in front of your PS3 or holding your PS Vita.

A four-person combo attack.

As for the game play, it's pretty much your typical SRPG.  You move along on a grid and use tactics to eliminate your enemies.  The main innovation that Disgaea provides is the combo attack.  Depending on where your team member is seated in home room, which is your base, they can perform an attack with someone that's sitting next to them.  The combos are significantly more damaging than normal attacks and are even more destructive when you use special skills to combo.  I also like the Magichange feature where your monster allies can transform into a weapon to be used by a teammate that's next to them in home room.  For instance, the prinny monster class, which is essentially a penguin, changes into a laser.  How much more awesome can you get?  I can't think of anything I want more than a penguin friend that turns into a laser cannon.

I've been waiting to write this brief review for some time now, and I finally got the guts to do it today.  The reason I was putting it off is because I could spend 100 paragraphs explaining the game and giving it the props it deserves, but no one wants to read that.  I just wanted to introduce you to the world of Disgaea 3, not write a book.  For anyone that is an SRPG gamer, RPG player, or an anime/manga lover; I highly recommend this game.  Personally I'd take the PS Vita version for the mobility, which I think SRPGs were designed for, but the PS3 version has some great advantages too.

Mass Effect 2

Over the weekend I beat Mass Effect 2 and was surprisingly disappointed.  I'd heard a lot about the series, especially with the third installment just recently releasing, and figured I'd test my mettle against it.  I mean, it's made by BioWare and it's hard to pass up any of their games.  I expected something like Dragon Age, really, and that's what I got.  The problem is that it felt like it was dumbed down more than it should have been.

Looks like it's pretty epic, right?

My main problem with the game is its length; it's just too damn short.  I beat this game in under 20 hours, and that's just barely the minimum for today's RPG standards.  Yeah, this isn't strictly an RPG, but hey, the genre is RPG-Shooter so I'd expect at least 20 full gaming hours.  This includes the main storyline AND all of the side quests that I could get my hands on, not including the paid DLC.  Part of the problem may be that I had the game on Normal, but I died a few times, and if I'm being forced to turn up the difficulty to get myself to die more often so that I can play the game longer, there's something horrifyingly wrong.  One good thing about the short game is that you can beat it once and then load your character back up at the start for round 2.  In my opinion, though, that's not a replacement for a longer, more robust line of main and side quests.

This gets really old, really quickly.

Exploration is such a waste of time in this game.  In most RPGs, when you explore you discover new fights, new items, and a myriad of new quests to begin.  In this game, however, you go from planet to planet and your exploration only gets you the occasional surface mission and some resources.  Resources are great, and are required to get the best upgrades, but the process to get them is so damn slow and boring that it's not worth it.  You have to use a scanner to look over the surface of the planet and then launch a probe when you find a significant source of materials.  There are so many planets to explore that this gets tiresome; it was fun the first few times, but I found myself wishing for something more exciting very quickly.  There's also a few times that you zoom around on the planet in a vehicle and gather data, which is fun, but there are less than ten missions involving that.

The character customization is decent and reminds me of Dragon Age.  Since the two games came out at roughly the same time, that's not surprising at all.  There's also a good array of characters and classes, giving quite a bit of replay value.  I'm disappointed that you can't swap classes when you start your second run-through with a character that you've beaten the game with.  You can retrain your powers using your resources, but there's no option to retrain class that I've seen so far.  The game play is akin to Gears of War or Operation Raccoon City, and the cover system is pretty smooth.  One thing that bugs me about it though is when you need to move over cover: you need to get into cover and then climb up.  Why not just have a climb button or a vault option?  I don't want to get into cover when there are no enemies around, I just want to get up to the next platform!

I like all of the different species in the game; they add spice!

One final thing to gripe about are the planets that have towns.  There are just a few of them, and each one is really small.  It is relieving to not have to fly your ship around and scan for things to do, though.  The shops allow you to buy upgrades, and the townspeople usually give you some side quests to perform.  The inhabited areas are also where you will find all of the missions taking place.

This game has its flaws, sure, but I still had fun playing it.  It has a good story and addictive game play; it just falls short of being a great game.  The exploration mini-game can be unbearable, some of the controls are awkward, and the areas you can explore on foot are just too small.  It's possible that the DLC would increase the game time and world considerably, but I don't know that I want to shell out the Microsoft Points for them.  All of that being said, I think I'll still check out Mass Effect 3 to see if they fixed any of the flaws that I found.

Dragon Age

I was wrapped up in Dragon Age back when the first game came out.  I was later dazzled by the expansion and the release of the second game.  If you don't know, Dragon Age is an EA/BioWare release that came out around the same time as Mass Effect, and both games are similar in their game play.

The idea is that you're recruited by a member of the organization known as the Grey Wardens, the protectors of the land against the Darkspawn.  Once you're initiated you enter right into the ongoing war.  Between fending off the Darkspawn and saving your land from a devastating civil war, your character is kept busy with his duties as a Warden.

There are three base classes to choose from, Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.  All three have a great number of skills and abilities to choose from, and the array of characters that you get allows you to put together a dream team party and swap out when you need to.  I don't want to get too in-depth with the rest of the game, I'm more concerned with talking about the game play. 

The way the game plays is akin to the old PC game Baldur's Gate, or even Myth.  You take control of all four characters in your party at the same time and give them all unique orders to defeat your enemies.  It's a combination of real-time strategy and role-playing game play that really lets you think about your fights before you act.  It's a really addictive way to play an RPG.

Why am I bringing this up when none of these games are new or really that exciting right now?  Baldur's Gate is being released for the iPad.  I'm trying to patiently await the game, but I think that I'm going to need a refresher from the PC version before I get to that point.  Summer 2012 may seem like just a short leap from today, but if you're a fan of Baldur's Gate, I know you're itching just as much as me to get to this new helping of strategy, tactical-RPG fun.

Diablo III

Yeah, that's the stuff.

I'm not really a PC gamer anymore, I've moved pretty much entirely over to consoles, but when I was a more avid PC gamer one of my favorites was Diablo II.  Since that time I've been anticipating how well Diablo III would do when it finally comes out.  Obviously it's done really well, considering that it's the sequel to a game that people have been actively playing for over ten years; that's right Diablo II, released in 2001, has had active players for the last 11 years.  That's just insane, I can't think of any other game that's really had that much participation after such a long time.

So obviously, when I heard back in 2010 that Diablo III could be coming to consoles, I was ecstatic.  I'm a little disappointed that it hasn't yet panned out though.  I'm still hopeful that Blizzard will wisen up and put the game onto consoles, similar to the latest Dungeon Siege and Witcher games.  Both games ported really well, especially Witcher II with it's similarities to Skyrim, and many console gamers that I know would love to see Diablo II follow suit.  My best guess as to why this isn't confirmed yet is that Blizzard tried to make this same jump a few times with various games and even more various results:  Diablo on PS1 and Starcraft 64. 

If you don't already know what I think about Starcraft 64, take a look at what I said about it previously.  As for Diablo, the game was ported from the PC in 1998, two years after its release.  Die hard fans of the PC game were disappointed with the lackluster graphics, the awful experience with sluggish and high-capacity saves, and the lack of an online multi player experience; though the PS1 version boasted a two-player mode on a single console.  The controls, however, did translate over to the controller very well, and many were surprised at how much easier the game was to play on the PS1 version.  The main components of the game; the dungeon-delving, action RPG, and arcade style game play; were all there so it was still a good game for those that haven't experienced the PC version, but overall the PS1 game was unable to cut the cake when compared to it's forefather.

 I could see all of the same issues with porting Diablo III to consoles today that there were in 1998 with the original, but are those really good reasons to keep it from us Xbox and PS3 gamers?  The saves have gotten better, the controls will still be grand, and you can have your multi player experience and eat it too.   Expand your Diablo III audience, Blizzard, I guarantee that it's worth it.

Motorstorm RC

Free games can be hit and miss, especially on mobile devices.  Take for instance all of the crap apps and "games" that get released for the various iDevices.  It's all just terrible.  Every once in a blue moon, however, you'll find that one free game that's actually worth downloading.  I have found that game for this moon cycle, and it's Motorstorm RC on the PS Vita.

Yeah, powered by Scion.

This game was released on the PS3 and later came to the PS Vita in March for free.  I snatched it up off the PS Store on day one, as I had basically just gotten the system and was looking for more games to experience.  At first I scoffed at it and balked at the controls.  Later, after I got more used to them, I began to enjoy the game.

Reminds me of the Micro Machines games.

The concept isn't much different than your normal racer, other than you're racing an RC car instead of a real car.  The 16 tracks are scaled down to fit the size of the cars, and each one has it's own flavor, which keeps the game fresh as you play the four different game modes.  To keep the game as real as possible, the controls are set in such a way that it makes you feel like you are actually controlling the car; like you're using the remote that controls it rather than playing a game with a controller.

The graphics are a bit lackluster, but since it's free, I can't really complain.  The same could be said of the sound.  There is a decent array of cars to unlock and choose from, and even some online leaderboards to compete against.  Compared to other free games out there for the Vita, like Montezuma Blitz, this is actually what you would expect from a video game.  I would recommend this any day of the week; like today...I'm recommending it today.

See?  Just like Micro Machines on the NES.

BlOps II Gripes

As probably every gamer knows already, BlOps (CoD Black Ops) II is being released, with pre-orders going out now.  This article has some good info on what people would expect from the sequel and I agree with a lot of what it has to say; which is why I'm even linking it. 

My main gripe with BlOps 2?  The first game was little more than a flop, and a dumbed down version of the more popular Modern Warfare titles.  Why release a second one when you can just continue to release Modern Warfare sequels that are more focused upon?  Why split your energies into two games rather than put your full might into one series?  I feel like this will just be a continuation of a bad idea that's going to end up with the same drilled-down garbage as Black Ops 1; everyone running and gunning with the same damn weapon all day long.  That's exactly what we, as gamers, are looking for right?  Not a robust, fun game, but rather one where we run around like chickens with our heads cut off while hoping we shoot first...Garbage.

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi

As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of Dragonball Z.  I am less so now that I have aged a bit, but when I was younger, DBZ was a big part of my life.  I had shirts, action figures, trading cards, and of course all the DBZ video games that I could get my hands on.  I think that I've played most, if not all, of the DBZ games that have been released, even the ones that were SNES exclusives and released only in Japan with few imports.  Those were extremely difficult to understand, but still fun as hell.  I'm not going to talk about those today, though it would be fun to do a huge mess of quick reviews for all of them, and instead I'll be talking about DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi on the Xbox 360.

I personally love this title shot; that badass crackling energy is awesome.

Right off the bat when playing this game you realize that it's not your typical fighter.  I don't know exactly what it is about the controls, but they just feel alien to me.  There are two ranges that you can be at, and each range specifies what type of attack you can use: Melee or Blast.  No matter the range you are at, you can string together three normal hits, or a charged up strong hit, to start a chain.  If you succeed at a short Rock, Paper, Scissors; without the Rock; you can continue to attack your enemy until the chain has finished.  To move between the two ranges, you double-tap the dash button and you'll rocket towards or away from the enemy while performing another attack.  During this time you play another Paper vs. Scissors with the left stick to determine if your attack hits or if the opponent hits you.  Either way you end up in the range you wanted to move to.  To perform a super attack, you can be at either range while tilting the right stick either up or down; an ultimate attack is done by pushing in the right stick.  Along with all of that garbage, you can also move in three dimensions.  It's hard to explain how it feels, but like I said above, it just doesn't feel right.  I'd rather stick with a 2d fighter and "normal" controls all the way.

This is in Japanese I guess.

The main draw to this game for me is the Hero Mode.  You can create your own character, from unlockable clothing and skillsets, to fight in a parallel DBZ universe.  This mode is pretty fun, but it's repetative.  You always seem to battle the same combatants while you attempt to level up your abilities.  As for the Story Mode, it's so short that you'd never realize that the show had so many seasons.  There are a lot of characters to choose from for the battle modes and the World Tournamen, but both of those are basically just time filler.  Where the hell did all of the story content go?  I don't want to fight against random online opponents, I want to play the frickin' story!

A giant boss...In a fighting game.  This isn't Shadow of the Colussus, people.

The developers included a few giant boss fights in the game, I think that's where the energy went for the Story Mode.  They seem to take up most of the time while you're playing; they take a few tries to beat and can last for up to half an hour if you don't memorize the patterns quickly enough.  Why in the hell would a fighting game include giant boss fights?  Shouldn't these be reserved for adventure games?  For each of these giant bosses, I could see more fights included that actually affected the story and weren't edging up on ridiculous.

Despite the massive amount of characters that you can play as and the huge variety of super attacks to choose from, this game falls pretty far from the DBZ tree.  The lack of a significant Story Mode really made me feel like this was far too rushed.  Hell, there's another DBZ game coming out in short order anyway, DB Raging Blast 2 is already on the way and Ultimate Tenkaichi isn't even a year old yet.  They pump these games out so fast that the quality ones are hard to find.  Overall, Ultimate Tenkaichi isn't necessarily terrible, but it's far from great.  In my opinion, stick with DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and avoid this game unless you really are a die hard fan and need to play all of the DBZ games.

Minecraft for XBLA: First Impressions

If you don't know what Minecraft is, I'll give you a little background to help bring you up to speed.  It's an open-ended, creativity game where you mine for resources to build and create pretty much whatever you want within the bounds of the resources you have.  The world is made up of blocks and all of the resources you place are placed into a grid in block form.  There's no ultimate goal, unless you want to complete the game by defeating an end-game boss, so the game continues forever.  The core idea is to mine, build, and survive.  The graphics are retro and block-like, but sharp, and raise a huge level of nostalgia for the golden days of video gaming.


Even though it's blocky, it's still really good looking.

 The main differences between the PC version and the 360 version are the inclusion of a tutorial and a much more seamless multi player experience.  The tutorial is integral for those who haven't played the game before, and it's a much better way to be introduced to the game than if you play it on PC.  There you have to rely on videos and tutorials created by users that came before you that can be pretty hit or miss.  As for the MP game, I haven't had a chance to sample it yet, but there's four player split screen and eight player online game modes.  From what I've heard, there's nothing better than a Minecraft session with some friends.

Just one example of a sweet construction.  And animals.

Moving on to my experience so far, I was thrown off a little by the lack of a main goal.  I started out okay with setting a goal to get a shelter up and then build a forge, but once I hit that point I kind of lost myself and started exploring.  After a ton of exploration I realized that I needed to upgrade my tools with some ore before I could go any further so I started looking for some Iron Ore.  Throughout this time I kept on detailing and upgrading my shelter until it was a two story, island fortress with a defensive wall on the outsides.  Before long I had a second structure up as well where I was starting my third major excavation...Why am I boring you with this detail?  To help explain how I managed to lose like five hours of my day yesterday and how I kept myself busy with goals that I set for myself.  So even without structure, Minecraft is not only able to keep you busy, but also keep you creatively managing your own goals.  It's a total black hole for your free time, but it's really addictive.

The only issue that I experienced during my game time yesterday was that during my first long period of playing, the server unexpectedly crashed and I lost all of my data.  I was pissed at first, but starting over didn't seem too bad since I could just create on a new world in a brand new starting position.  Don't get me wrong, I was still irritated, just not as much as I would have expected. 

Once I get further in the game I'll post another, more in-depth review, but for now this will have to suffice.  My suggestion is to download the demo if you're unsure that the game is for you, and then buy it.  It's only $20, 1600 Microsoft Points on the XBLA Marketplace and is well worth that price:

Asphalt: Injection

There have been a couple of racers released for the PSVita to date, but most of them have gotten some terrible reviews, for good reason.  Mod Nation Racers and Ridge Racer are both some pretty awful games, but I'm not here to talk about crap today, I want to talk about the exception of the group: Asphalt: Injection.  To be honest, I've only played the demo, so this is going to be a pretty short review that's based solely on what I've been able to experience.

Probably the most bland screen ever.

As you can see, the game doesn't look that great from a graphical perspective, and thus doesn't push the Vita to it's full potential.  It looks pretty much the same as if you were to buy it on the iOS.  It looks okay, but not what we would expect from a cutting-edge gaming system that's boasting the best handheld graphics on the market today.

The game play is similar to your normal Arcade racer.  You drive as fast as you can while alternating between drifting and boosting with the nitro you collect from pickups or "stunts" like getting air time on a jump.  The controls are pretty simple and only rarely will you not finish in the top three places of a race.  Touch mechanics are limited here and the only one to speak of is the back touch screen that allows you to manually shift.  It's kind of neat, but its not a game-changer in any way.

FP view in the garage is kind of a fun addition, useless, but fun.

There are a lot of unlockables, based upon how many stars you get during races, and a lot of top name car manufacturers.  We're not looking at the same amount as Forza or Gran Turismo, but there's still an impressive library considering that this is a handheld system.  One thing that's kind of annoying is that you are unable to determine what cars you own unless you are in the garage.  So in the shop, you can't determine which cars you already own versus those that you don't; they all show the price and if they are locked or unlocked.  Different paint schemes allow for some customization for you to make your cars yours.  Tons of tracks are also available, though many are recycled from past Asphalt games.  I haven't personally played the other games so they were all new to me and that downside didn't really come into play during the demo anyway.

All-in-all, this game is pretty good, but there are a few issues that would deter me from buying it.  Considering that the iOS version is $0.99 and the Vita version is $30+, it might not be a good buy unless you really, really want it on your PSVita or don't have an iDevice and are looking for a good racing game for your new handheld.  My advice in that situation is to buy this and stay far away from Mod Nation and Ridge Racer, those just flat out suck.

Sumioni: The Dark Arts, a haiku

Since it is very difficult to wirte an entire post on an iPad, I've decided to try my hand at a more creative form of review...creative and short. Believe me, that this is really hard to type all hunt and peck~like.

Sumioni arts,
game of ink and platforms brushed,
leave it to Rayman.

Army Corps of Hell

If you think the title is awful, wait until you play the game.



Don't be fooled by the fact that SE was involved.

 The idea behind this game is that you're controlling an army of minions, in this case they are goblin-looking things, and you need to fight your way through hellish landscapes to regain your position in the ranks.  The core game play has you moving your skeleton general around from platform to platform while you throw your minions at whatever assortment of monsters jumps up at you for the 50th time.

Once you chuck a few of your little guys onto an enemy they start using whatever weapon they're equipped with based upon the type of minion they are.  Soldiers use swords, Spearmen are obviously equipped with spears, and Magi use staves.  Each type of minion has a different special attack and are useful against different enemies.  Soldiers generally do the most damage with a special attack, Spearmen attack monsters that come close to them, and Magi have a good distance strike.  There's not much else to this thing; you move from stage to stage killing things with the same old strategy.  It gets boring very quickly.

It's tricky; looks like it could be good, but it's really not.

To spice it up a bit, you can alter the # of each minion type you have in your army at one time.  Some combos are better than others, but for the most part it doesn't really matter.  The customization options are very limited.  There are different weapons and items to create, you collect materials to make them from fallen monsters, but there's very little reason to not use the newest one that you've created.  Why allow for customization if it doesn't matter?

You can also equip different hats for your minions and different cloaks for your general.  Once again though, the newest one is going to be the best and you run into the same issue with the weapons and items.  IF the customizability was better, this could be a fun game.  I've already mentioned that the combat is really bland, but even more bland is the variety of enemies you encounter. 

You fight the same stupid creatures over and over again.  Once you've seen a set of monsters, the game switches it up by changing their colors and adding an ability.  Yeehaw.  Honestly, I could only play this game for up to ten stages, and after that I just gave up because I couldn't stand it.  I think the only thing that I was really impressed with in this entire pile of crap was the music; that was freaking awesome.  It's all heavy-death-metal-ish and not anything like the rest of the game.  I would buy the soundtrack for this game any day.

I expected a LOT more from Square-Enix's first title on the PSVita, especially since it's a strategy game.  I know that the Vita is still pretty new and that the system is still finding its own niche of games, but this garbage shouldn't have ever existed.  The worst part is that it's basically a horribly butchered Overlord port from the Xbox 360.  Overlord featured similar combat and customization options, but fleshed it out more.  You get a castle, a forge, different spells, etc.

Had SE taken even a small amount of the lessons that came from Overlord, I could have seen Army Corp of Hell being a decent game.  Since they decided to go a different direction, I feel like this is one of those few times where they really fucked up.  I expected more from you Square-Enix.

BF3 Rent-A-Server Update

I think I'm a bit behind the times in posting on this update to the console version of Battlefield 3, but I needed to weigh in on it today due to the amount of BF3 that I played, or rather tried to play, over the weekend.

For those of you that don't know, the Rent-A-Server update basically took all of the servers that were publicly hosted and placed them on a list for private users to rent and use as they see fit.  So for x amount of Microsoft Points you can rent a server, that you customize the games on, for a day, week, or month.  This is a great deal for anyone that wants to shell out the money to play the game they already paid for, but for the rest of us it blows.

The first time that I attempted to do a quick match to get back into playing BF3, I ended up on a server with a description of, "snipes or pilots only."  When I spawned as an Engineer I was immediately booted.  To avoid this type of garbage I was able to go into the Server Browser and pick and choose what I wanted to play there, but with a controller that takes about 15 minutes and feels like a waste of my time.  I want to be able to jump into the game and play within ten minutes, not look around for a server that I'm going to be able to tolerate.

A few other issues that I've had with people and their servers are games having too many tickets and lasting too long, no variations in maps, and a lack of players.  When a game has 900 tickets the game is just unbearable.  After the first half hour, you're weeping to just have the thing finish.  You'd leave, but then you'd have wasted that much time for no points.  Even if you're dominating the match, the amount of tickets that owning all of the capture points bleeds from the other team is too minuscule to speed up the end.  Combine that with playing the same map over and over, because you don't want to leave a decent server that won't kick you for no reason, and you end up with a pile of shit. 

Finally, the lack of players on some servers is disturbing.  I started a few games where it was just me and my friend, and some where it was just me.  I think that the lack of players just sums up how awful this whole update experience has been.  Like myself, I would bet that most players are getting fed up with how this whole game has been handled.  If the servers are going to continue to be set up like this, Battlefield 3 is going to suffer a huge lack of me, not to mention other people that are pissed off at the changes.

Why Most of Today's MP Modes are Awful

I was playing some Battlefield 3, for the first time in awhile, the other day and realized why I don't play it as often as I do Halo: Reach.  Not only do I enjoy Halo: Reach more, but there is a skill difference that it has from those other "modern" multi player games.  For the purposes of my explanation, let's pit Call of Duty against Halo.

Call of Duty's ranking system and it's guns, kill streaks, and death streaks to buy makes for a pretty fun game if you're looking for something where your ranks allow you to develop your MP experience on a hierarchical level.  The higher your rank, the better stuff you can buy and the better you will end up being at the game. 

Halo's ranking systems are just to group comparable players together in matches.  Rather than allowing you to buy better and better equipment, this game has you rely on only your skill and wit when playing against others.  The ranking system may have higher numbers than others, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you have a greater chance at beating a lower number than that lower number has of beating you.

Since both of those are pretty terrible explanations I'll solidify my point here:  Call of Duty's ranking system allows the best to get better.  When you have large amounts of credits, you can buy the best equipment and start with the best load outs, most of the time.  So when you start a game on whatever map, those players with the best stuff have a greater chance of winning than those players just starting out.  Skill can be beaten out by better equipment or a chance kill streak from a care package.  When you look at a game like Halo, without the option to buy better stuff or get a random, awesome kill streak reward you can see a huge difference.  Since everyone starts off with the same weapon and the better stuff is lying on the ground, where all players have an equal chance to get at it, the game is much more balanced.  The only division between players in Halo is skill, and that's what it should be across the board.

Balance is the key word here: Halo is balanced and CoD isn't.  Halo stays balanced all of the time while CoD can only have brief moments of it when all of the players have the same load out, and that mostly happens never.  If we take the load outs out completely and eliminate that factor, we still see that CoD allows the best to get better.  How is that?  Because of the damn kill streaks!  It's ridiculous that the best player on the map is allowed to call in an air strike and just increase his/her lead.  Shouldn't the least effective players be getting death streaks that are huge air strikes and the best player get kill streaks that aren't as effective to balance the game out?

So as you can tell, I'm horrifyingly biased against CoD, but for good reason.  I don't want to play a game where there's no balance.  That makes for a flawed game experience.  To tell you the truth, I'm not even half-bad at CoD, I just can't stand the game based mostly on principle.  It just makes me sick...Makes me fucking sick!

PS Store or Xbox Live Marketplace?

In recent months I've been able to experience the PS Store.  Since my main console of choice at the moment is still the Xbox 360, I can't help but compare the two online stores to hopefully come to a decision on which is better.  It also has to be said that the version of the PSN that I'm using happens to be on the Vita, so the features of the network are limited by a mobile version so I won't be comparing the Xbox Live features to the PSN ones, that just won't work with the discrepancies in the versions.  Hence, we'll just talk about the shopping experience.

I think the biggest item on everyone's mind when it comes right down to it is the price of the games.  Full-fledged video games, those released in stores and as a downloadables, are priced the same as what they are in stores.  A brand-new 360 game hits the $60 price range while a PSVita game lands at about $40.  Since both networks seem to price their download games at the same rate, equal to that of a physical copy, neither have an advantage.  However, when we come down to the prices of other games, things change.  Advantage: Neither

On the Vita there's the option to download full PSP games, the prices on these range from $5-30 depending on how recent the release was.  The most common games hit the $10-15 amount.  When we look at how the 360 compares, we see that the original Xbox games that are out there don't get quite as low priced as the PSP games.  Though we're looking at the difference between a console game and a portable game, I still think that the PSN gets the advantage here.  I'd much rather get FFT for $10 than some crappy original Xbox game like Prince of Persia.  Advantage: PSN

PS Store on the Vita.

I want to talk about Apps even though the Xbox 360 is a console and the Vita is a new mobile device.  Essentially I'd just like to compare Netflix, since both systems have that as an option.  Neither really beats the other, Netflix is Netflix, and I'm sure we'd see the same when we compare the two Facebook apps to one another.  Advantage: Neither

Let's now talk about Safety and Security...  The PSN track record is awful, we all know that.  I've had my Xbox Live account hacked into though, while my PSN account is still perfectly fine.  Even though my Live experience has been worse than my PS Store one, I have to give the advantage to the Marketplace here.  Even when I had problems, my issues were resolved successfully with my money being returned within a two week time period.  On top of all of that I got a free month of Xbox Live for the issue.  The PSNs recurring issues and vulnerabilities are just too much.  Advantage: Xbox Live

How the Marketplace is organized is pretty aggravating.  You have to figure out what category the game you want is in; Indie, Arcade, full, etc; and then navigate there to find it.  The PS Store is essentially the same way, so there's really no deviation between the two.  I find that both frustrate me unless I know exactly where I'm going, and browsing is usually out of the question.  Advantage: Neither

Last, but not least, let's talk about content.  What do both of these network stores contain?  Obviously we're looking at games the whole time, but what kind of games?  The PS Store has cross-play, PSP, PSVita and Mini games.  The Marketplace has Arcade and Full.  Now, the PSN may have some more variety, but the Arcade for Xbox Live is a powerhouse for games like The Simpsons and X-Men.  However, both systems have a large amount of Indie games, and I hate Indie games...violently hate them.  So with the Indie games balancing out, I have to give the Marketplace kudos for content; bringing back awesome Arcade titles just can't be beat.  Advantage: Xbox Live


Okay, so I can't come up with a clear winner, but, hey, who cares?  I'll have fun getting demos and games from both of the networks and take advantage of the best of both worlds.  Did you really think there'd be a different outcome?

Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational

If you've read any of my earlier posts, you may have learned that I have little tolerance for the Sports genre.  There are few exceptions to this sweeping generality, and one of those is the Hot Shots Golf series.  I barely consider golf a sport, sorry golfers, and I usually don't even acknowledge that there are video games that replicate it.  The mere thought of wasting my time on a golf course, virtual or real, is just horrifying.  Why is Hot Shots different, you ask?  Because I said so.

My introduction to the series was on the PS2, and its cartoon characters and easy to use controls lured me in.  What made me stay was the unlockables and career mode.  A career mode makes everything better.  Rather than unlocking everything within the first couple games that I played, I needed to progress and get better than the AI.  It's maddening when you get to the point that you're really good, but the computer is still better.  That frustration makes you just irritated enough that you have to beat it no matter what; even if you hate the game itself.  To add to that frustration is that set of clubs or music track that awaits once you clear the game.  It doesn't add any replay ability, but just the feeling of satisfaction that you have once it's attained is enough to sate any achievement hunter.  All of the above is included in Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational and gets an added bonus with the DLC and online tourneys.

Actual cartridge size.

This game was hailed as one of the best launch titles, if not the best, for the PSVita.  I tend to agree.  The game isn't too deep in itself, but the online tournaments really add a whole other level.  The same could be said of the downloadables.  It's pretty generic in its goal: golf until you can't golf any more.  Be better than everyone else and get more points to spend on unlockables.  Pretty basic stuff, but it's well done.  Each course that you play on is broken down into 9 holes front and back, as well as 18 holes and mirrored, which makes for a lot of ways to play each course.  The good thing about the 9 holes is that, like we've seen with all the Vita games so far, you can play the game for short periods of time and move on to other activities.

The controls on the Vita are great, I've never had any problems with using the touch screen or the regular buttons.  It's a little tough getting the good shots to work when you have to shake the Vita just as you hit the ball, but after working on it for awhile you can get it down.  The only real issues that I have with the entire game is that some of the rules are just awful.  For instance, there's a rule that if you wait longer than 15 seconds to take a shot, you get a +1 on your hit.  What a bunch of crap!  What if I have to run to the bathroom or get the door?  I can't set the game down for 15 seconds or I get penalized?  I know the game is designed to play quickly, but we don't need to play speed golf and screw over people who happen to have to take a short break without pausing.

The game looks really sharp.

I don't really have any other complaints about Hot Shots Golf.  Like I said above, it's really basic, and since it's designed well, there's little that really grinds my gears.  The customizability with character clothing, clubs, and balls allows you to adjust to any style of play.  Whether you like to curve the ball or just hit it really hard, there's a set of items for you.  As far as the collectibles are concerned, there's a ton of them.  Songs, concept art, characters, clubs, and the list goes on with stuff to get with the points you earn after each course.  The weirdest thing in the game is this little freakish character on the main screen.

In the shop there's a slot machine where you enter some points and get back a random piece of the character.  In the design modes you can change this main screen character by selecting pieces to put together.  There are some really fucked up designs you can throw together, like an insane Mr. Potato Head.  I like to play with the random and see what abominations the game can come up with for me to stare at every time I have to go back to the main screen.

While I don't like sports games, Hot Shots Golf just has those few qualities about it that really make it a good game to play, no matter what genre.  For what it's worth, this game could be a starting point for any gamer that's never really been introduced to a sports game with content, instead they've just been blasted with Madden games all their life until they've been desensitized to how fun a sports game can actually be.  You don't need all that real-life crap, just throw in a crazy-ass Mr. Potato Head; some fun, easy-to-learn game play with an addictive career mode; and you're good to go.  My suggestion is to put down that baseball simulator and pick up Hot Shots Golf, you won't be disappointed.

He's out of control, but he can still go the distance, fairly.

Dynasty Warriors Next

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a fictional novelization of the story of the Three Kingdoms warring for control of China after the fall of the Han Dynasty.  Few people have read this wonderful tale, I highly recommend it if you are an avid reader and are looking for something different, but most gamers on the planet have heard of Dynasty Warriors; the seemingly never-ending game series spawned by the story.

There are so many Dynasty Warriors games it's mind-boggling.  Not only are there seven games from the main series, but there are countless spin offs:  Dynasty Warriors Xtreme, Dynasty Warriors Gundam, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and the list goes on.  Today we're going to focus on one of the newer titles, and one of the few games of the series to be created specifically for a mobile device and it's also the game that I first purchased when I got my PSVita.

Dynasty Warriors Next doesn't really differ from the rest of the series too much.  The game pits you as one of the notable warriors from the Three Kingdoms, based upon whichever campaign mission you are currently playing, against the other kingdoms and their armies.  The moves are basic button-mashing combos, just simple things like square, square, triangle.  Each one hits a different range of enemies and has some specific uses like block breaking or status effects.  Once you've defeated enough soldiers your Musou gauge will fill up and you'll be able to press circle for your special attack.  This hits a large area of enemies and deals considerable damage, but the changes to it in Next versus the other games is that it can be adapted to a secondary type of attack.  If you tap the touch screen with two fingers when your Musou is full, you do a different type of special attack that involves touching one of the touch screens in some way or shaking the PSVita.  These touch attacks do a bit more damage and last longer than the normal Musou attack so using the latter is basically worthless.

Other changes to Next involve the Break gauge.  Once you fill the bar you can tap the map and instantly capture the base that you're currently in.  Bases are capture points that can affect the battle in a variety of ways such as giving items or calling reinforcements, so as you may think, they are vital to the success of any battle.  Normally the bases are captured by lowering the base's defense to zero, which can really take some time on the harder difficulties.  Noting that, you can tell how helpful the Break gauge can be.

The duels break up the monotonous combat.

Another of the PSVita's adaptations to this series is a series of touch mini-games.  Not only do these occur intermittently throughout the campaigns, but they are also available to be played whenever in the Gala mode.  These range from a duel with officers to a game where you trace calligraphy using both touch pads to uncover and then fill in the characters.  Honestly, these could have easily been left out of the game.  All they really do is break up the game and try to cater to the more gimmicky aspects of the Vita.

Edit mode has too few choices to be really great.

A few other notable aspects of the game are Conquest and Edit mode.  Conquest allows you to play a custom game with or without friends and using any characters that you've created in Edit mode.  I feel like both of these could have been more robust, there are limited options in Edit mode, and Conquest leaves a lot to be desired in it's risk-like, turn-based game play.

Dynasty Warriors is a wonderful series, and I can never get enough of it.  It's great to be a warrior in the Three Kingdoms era and stand against the ebb and flow of destiny while you cut down thousands of soldiers.  The odds are always against you as you struggle to end the conflict and bring peace back to the land.  The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, hence your epic legend, begins with the fall of the Han.

Touch My Katamari

If you aren't familiar with the Katamari series, than the title of this post is probably just dirty-sounding.  If you are familiar with the Katamari series, than the title of this post is dirty-sounding. 

This just looks insane.

What is there to say about this game series?  You control the Prince of All Cosmos and carry out the bidding of your father, the King of All Cosmos.  What does the King want you to do?  The main goal varies in every game, but the idea is that you need to make stars or planets.  How's that accomplished?  Of course, by rolling around a giant sticky ball, your Katamari, over everything and everyone on earth until your time runs out our the ball reaches a certain size.  I'm sure this sounds simple, and stupid, but it's really not.

As you roll around each stage and gather items, your ball grows larger in size.  As you get larger, you can pick up bigger items.  Eventually you get to the size where you can pick up buildings, giant monsters, and even entire islands.  Like I mentioned before you need to get your Katamari to a certain size within the time limit for each level, but you also need to gather specific types of items, like hot things.

Moving on to the specifics of Touch My Katamari, the King has become sort of a bum and the world is worried about him.  As Prince, you need to collect a bunch of items to restore the King's coolness, power, child-like qualities, royalty, etc.  The game play in this title doesn't change much from the rest of the series, but you do have a few new options.  You can use the touch screen to stretch out the Katamari to make it really skinny and tall or really wide and short.  This is used to get previously unreachable objects by making your way behind that pesky vending machine or under that food cart.  The only problem with this is that it can make it easy to get stuck and forces you to lose a lot of time becoming unstuck by hopping around a lot and just trying to force your Katamari through the opening.

There's really nothing else that makes this game stand out from the rest of the Katamari series, but it's just as fun as them.  Some of the criticisms that it's received are based on the fact that it's really short and lacks some of the flair of the previous games.  Also, many people claim that the games are just too childish with simple objectives.  To that I say, "Of course it's shorter and and isn't as robust, it's on a freaking handheld!"  I agree that the game can be pretty childish, but adults can find the game and humor both very fun; it just takes a certain type of person.



I've always wondered why Prince's head is shaped so oddly.

 Overall, I would have to say that the Katamari series transmitted to the PSVita very well.  The short levels allow you to pick up, play, and put down the system all in a matter of a few minutes.  Sure the touch screen isn't utilized often and the cameras are useless, but the game has adapted very well to the device's portability and sharp graphics.  Those aren't what make or break a game though. 

Even after I've found all of the collectibles, gotten all of the music tracks, and unlocked all of the clothing options for both Prince and King, what keeps me coming back for more is the addictive game play.  Nothing can really beat a well-designed game...and, hey, if after beating the entire game the title still sounds dirty, that's just a little something extra for everyone.



Go ahead and Touch My Katamari.



X-Men Arcade

Whether you're new to the arcade scene or are a veteran of the cabinet gaming world you've likely heard of the X-Men Arcade game.  It's one of those few that everyone has heard about, but not everyone has played due to the limited quantities of the cabinet and it's age.  X-Men ranks up there with the best beat 'em up arcades out there including The Simpsons and Turtles in Time.  So when it was ported to the Xbox Live Arcade, I jumped at the chance to own this title.



What a beast.

 I remember back in the day playing this game and just marveling at the fact that it had such a large screen and six players could be on it at the same time.  Nowadays that's not so impressive, which means I'm no longer awe-struck simply by the game's look and feel, but since the core mechanics are still here in full force the game still has that arcade edge to it that you just can't get out of console titles.  The objective is to rescue the professor by moving right and beating the living shit out of everything that's in your way.  Your main enemy is Sentinels, but along the way you meet lizard men, man-eating plants, and other strange-looking robots.  Of course there's also a cast of bosses plucked right from Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants.

The bosses can be a bit of a problem; they're either too easy or too powerful based upon your difficulty choice, there seems to be no middle ground.  Also, the fact that your mutant powers take away your life after you use up your items is another annoyance, especially when you're down to the wire fighting the Blob, but it's a trademark of the beat 'em up so I don't have much of a problem with the special attacks. 

The levels are really diverse and nicely detailed with Sentinels bursting through the walls at random intervals.  On the Xbox Live version, the game is really sharp and everything looks great on a graphical level, but I'm disappointed that the only extras included were the Japanese version of the game and difficulties.  Why were there no extra costumes or new characters?

Regardless of X-Men's lack of special features and the issues that I've experienced with the difficulty, I still love to play this with a group of friends.  In my opinion, this is a must-buy on the Xbox Live Arcade, especially at the low price.  800 Microsoft Points is nothing to hear Magneto tell you to, "Welcome to die!"

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Besides my PS Vita, the latest and greatest game that I've been playing is Kingdoms of Amalur.  When I first read about this title I imagined that it would be just another Skryim knock-off and not worth my time.  I was wrong.

Boggart

I later learned that the character design was done by the great Todd Macfarlane, creator of Spawn.  That alone was enough to draw me to the game, but the story was also written by my favorite author, RA Salvatore.  After I knew both of those facts, I was freaking sold.  Before I knew it I was immersed in a brand new fantasy world with fantastic creatures and new exciting visuals.

No longer was I limited to realistic scenery like in Skyrim, the design leans more towards WoW and has a semi-cartoon feel to it.  Many point that out as a flaw, but I call it blessing.  We have too many games that are looking towards real-life as inspiration.  I say screw it and go for the wackiest shit you can come up with; we play video games to escape, how can we escape if we create our world within the game?

Comparing the game to the current RPG king, Elder Scrolls V, is difficult but can be done...and overall Skyrim is definitely a more well-designed game as far as the mechanics are concerned.  KoA has less customization for your character and the combat trees are pretty limited.  Sure there are three different ones to work with and you can combine any of the skills you want, but all of them are pretty lackluster after you beat the game a few times.  The crafting is sub-par, but can be fun and makes for some easy achievements.

My number one complaint with the game is that it all comes down to button mashing.  Now I love button mashing as much as the next person, but that's all the fights amount to if you're not on the hardest difficulty; and there it's all button mashing save for the occasional potion drink.  I found myself beating the living crap out of every single monster every time I saw one.  I couldn't walk 30 feet before I had to fight the next stupid wolf or sprite, and the battles were never particularly rewarding.  The good loot was very scarce.



Niskaru

 Even though I'm harping on the game quite a bit, I still enjoy playing it.  I'm on my third run now and the environments still feel fresh.  Along with a story that I can really get into, the character and environment design gives a really good game experience.  No longer are you fighting Draugr or skeletons or goblins for the 700th time.  Instead, you're given a chance to look at some really crazy creatures like the Niskaru or simplistic, yet fanciful creatures like the Boggarts.  This is what this game all comes down to for me: a good, fantastic world.  I'll take that over a snowy mountain any day.