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.

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.

Post 29: Dead Island Revisited

A still from the gruesome trailer that NPR has labeled uncomfortable due to graphic violence.

Despite several setbacks, including an issue with profane and inappropriate comments included in the code of the game, Dead Island manages to be a well put together game. The issue can be found in the archives of my blog, but it has little to do with the game's overall playability so I won't dredge it up again.  I simply want to attack the meat of the game rather than it's construction problems; I'll leave that to the media.

Zombie hugs are some of the least gratifying.

The game's premise is that a zombie infestation has occurred on a resort island.  Players choose from four characters, each with their own specific set of skills.  There's a tank, a gun-expert, a throwing-expert, and a bladed weapons specialist.  No matter who you choose, the story remains consistent.  In fact it's so consistent that if you are logged onto Xbox Live and you are "near" someone in the story, they can join your game and insert themselves in to help you or for you to help them.  It works both ways, not much unlike a bisexual.  In any case, this is majorly annoying for those of us that just want to game by ourselves for an hour or two.  It's like some jerk-off knocking on your door and letting himself in whenever the fuck they want.  Luckily, you can change the options here and adjust it to your liking.  There are sometimes, however, that you will want someone to join you, like in a heavily infested area, and in those times it's acceptable.

Machete: 1 Zombie: 0

The idea is to try and survive on the island so that an escape plan can be put together.  Of course, the only obstacle between you and sweet, blissful escape is an entire resort of zombies and idiot survivors that need your help.  You progress in the story, and in areas on the island, by completing main and side quests.  For completing these quests you earn experience, level up, and gain skill points to spend on the skills unique to each character.  This type of gaming setup is very reminiscent of say the Diablo series or Borderlands.  In fact, Dead Island may as well be Borderlands on an island.  The main differences are that you're up against zombies, you're on Earth, and there's an emphasis on melee combat.  Let's talk about the combat while we're on the subject.

It's like a Zombie bug zapper.

As I stated, the combat is focused on melee.  To that end, there are two types of weapons, blunt and bladed.  Whichever you decide upon is usually based on which character you chose and how you want to develop your skills.  All of the weapons you find have a chance of being Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, or Exceptional with each category being more powerful than the last.  Add to that a weapon modification system a la Dead Rising 2 and you've got yourself one hell of a good weapons system.  So at this point it's a typical first-person hack and slash, but you've got some choices in combat.  You can take the time to focus on a particular limb and break it, or cut it off depending on the weapon type, or just go all out and waste your stamina on the whole thing.  Either way it makes for a good time as you hack limbs and bust heads.  Even when guns become involved, I have no problem saying that the combat system is excellent.

I don't know why this is here.

The quests are a bit broken and cause some confusion on my part.  There is a difficulty value for every quest, but it seems like it's arbitrary.  A quest may say hard, but you breeze through it like it's very easy.  I'm not sure what determines the difficulty, so this may just be a misunderstanding from my perspective, but it's a point of contention that I had to bring up.  Another issue is the pathing for the quest trails on the map.  If you go a way different from the path on your mini-map it corrects the trail.  This is great if you're an idiot, otherwise it just pisses you the hell off.  One time in particular I was traveling through a bazaar and the end comes out into a car.  There was plenty of room to move over or to the left of the car, but the pathing told me to go around to the right and out to the left again.  This happens constantly and I find myself backtracking or going off the path just to reach my destination.  You'd think it wouldn't be too hard, just get from A to B.

My final complaint about the game is based upon the realism.  I love the graphics, plot, and almost everything else about this game, but it comes across as too real at many times.  You run out of stamina a lot.  Stamina is tracked with a bar.  Once the bar runs out, you slow down and can't attack or jump until you regain it.  That's fine, but it happens way too fucking often.  The horror aspect of the story is wonderful and I actually get scared sometimes when playing alone, but some of the roars and moans are just disturbing and even annoying after awhile.  Despite all of the realism that makes me angry, like people who sell weapons and items jacking up the prices to a ridiculous plateau, the worst of all is the fact that the zombies can utilize weapons.  For instance, I was just running away from a few zombies to get some distance on them and shoot them down due to damage suffered from a close encounter.  With normal zombies that's no problem, they shamble over to you and you cut them down with bullets, game over, but of course here that's not the case.  I got away and took down two of the remaining three, but one of the fuckers threw, yes they can use and throw weapons, a wooden plank at me and killed me.  Talk about being pissed the hell off.  If you're going to have attention to detail and realism that's fine, but at least be fucking consistent.  Zombies cannot use goddamn weapons they're brainless, alright?  BRAINLESS.