Recent reviews by BinaryMessiah

The Good: Decent graphics, different level design approach, fast paced, it doesn't last very long

The Bad: Botched paratrooping mechanic, ridiculously difficult, monotonous level progression, dead multiplayer, brings nothing new to the tired genre

Medal of Honor started the first person shooter World War II experience back on the original PlayStation. As time went on they redefined the genre on PC with Allied Assault. It helped put WWII shooter's feet on cinematic ground. Frontline was the series last good game, and slowly after that the series fell flat on its face with mediocrity, with EA only caring about money. Airborne continues this trend and it's dead obvious how little effort they put into the game.


You play as a soldier named Travers (like we care at this point) and you go through various WWII scenarios that you have probably gone through dozens of times before. The first thing you will notice about Airborne is how repetitive it feels in comparison to other WWII shooters. It doesn't do anything new and re-treads the same ground that we are sick and tired of. EA tried to make us feel different about this with a new approach to level design. You play as paratroopers that jump out of planes at the start of every level onto green flares. These are safe zones and contain crates of health, ammo, and grenades. Once you hit the ground you will notice that your mini-map is pointing to various objectives. No longer do you follow a linear routine and take it one at a time. Pick a direction and run, but that's when things start going bad.

Every map plays out the same, shoot some enemies, push forward, rinse and repeat ad nauseam. The enemies will keep coming in different pockets of the maps until you advance and take them out. This isn't a new trick, and just gets old quick because that is all you do. Place a charge on this AA gun, blow up this equipment, blow up these thanks. No thanks. I have done this countless times already so why do I want to do it here? The whole "non-linear" map idea doesn't really work because it makes the game ridiculously difficult and you will die dozens of times every level. Every time you die you jump back out of the plane loosing not objective progress, but advancement progress. If you just pushed back a huge group of enemies and die you have to do it again. Your objectives are just checkpoints, and this gets frustrating beyond anything you can imagine. The game throws way too many enemies at you, but there are even problems with weapons.

The game has a nice upgrade system for doing so many kills. For example, the MP40 will upgrade with a double clip, reduced recoil, and a knife melee attack. This is the most interesting thing in the entire game, but EA for some reason made the guns inaccurate to accommodate for upgrades. Guns jump around more than you are used to and no matter how well your aim is you always miss about 60% of the time. Once you hit the less recoil upgrade it isn't so bad. All the same WWII era weapons are here (except the Sten) and it is yawn worthy.

Thankfully the game is short with only 6 levels, so you can beat the game in about 6 hours. No matter how you slice it the game is just extremely hard, repetitive, boring, and unoriginal on every level. They even went back to the health pack system which is just archaic in design. You would think at least jumping out of planes is fun? Not really because if you don't grease or flare your landing you botch it and it involves a nauseating and disorienting animation of your character wobbling around while getting up and pulling the weapon out in a weird way. While this is happening guys are shooting you and you will recover with one health bar left. Nice job EA for screwing every single thing in a game up that you possibly could. Even the graphics are pretty bland and aren't anything special.

Overall, Airborne is probably the worst Medal of Honor game I have ever played. Monotonous shooting, ridiculous difficulty, screwed up paratrooping mechanic, failed level design, and a retread of a genre everyone is tired of. Do yourself a favor and skip this unless you really need a WWII shooter fix. Forget about multiplayer as well because there are only 6 maps and no one is playing online anyways.

~Score: 5/10

The Good: DirectX 11 visuals look stunning, fun and past paced action, bullet time is used well, superb camera work and cinematography, one of the most engaging stories in any recent shooter, lengthy story mode

The Bad: Some bullet time quirks, last-man-standing has some issues, gameplay is a bit shallow and feels repetitive some times, scripted bullet time events are spread too thin

Max Payne pretty much took bullet time effects mad popular by The Matrix and made it mainstream for games. Back in the day Max Payne was a high-tech graphic noire story by Rockstar Games. It was fun, full of action, and had a great story and character. The second game did the same thing, but felt too familiar to the first game. The third time around is a decade later, but Rockstar now has the tech to do what they originally wanted. Max Payne 3 is one of the best looking games out there, but also features one of the richest and well delivered cinematic stories in recent gaming history.

Max Payne has retired and is just mourning the death of his wife and kid while getting drunk every day. An old buddy from the police force stops by and recruits him for a body-guard job in Sao Paulo protecting a very rich family in a third world country. Things go wrong, like they always do for Max, and he needs to redeem himself and set things straight after so many screw-ups through the game. I can't say much more without spoiling the story, but you're in for a treat on this one.

The game feels familiar once you start getting into it. You can dual wield weapons or use a two-handed weapons. Bullet time is back with bullet dodge as well. You can get behind cover and use bullet time to pull off headshots and kill a dozen enemies that would normally kill you without it. Bullet dodge is fun to when you don't have cover or just want to knock some guys down quickly while moving to cover. My only issue here is that it isn't as fast as previous games. Spinning around in bullet dodge is slower and feels too weighty for me. Max's bullet time meter only refills if you stick your head out and start killing enemies without it so there is some balance. If you get hurt you can pop painkillers, but they aren't in abundance like the last two games. I don't think I ever had over 4 at one time and they are hard to come by.

That's pretty much all there is to the action. There are many different weapons with things added on like laser sights, nightvision sights, scopes, and flashlights. I really wish the gameplay was evolved a little more, but all you do is shoot everything that moves. There are some great cinematic moments that break this up like bullet time shooting in different scenarios which is really fun. I just wish it wasn't spread so thin because a lot of the time the game gets extremely difficult and repetitive with too many of the same type of shootouts in a row. At least the environments change all the time so you have a lot of different scenery to look at.

Max Payne 3 has some of the best camera work and cinematography in a game that I have ever seen. At certain points the camera will snap to the last enemy in the area that is dying so you can pump more rounds into him as he falls. Then the scene will go right into a cut scene seamlessly and then right into another action sequence. I don't think I have ever felt like playing an action movie before more than I have with Max Payne 3. The game is also really long with 14 chapters that will take about 12+ hours to beat. The story is just bursting at the seams with detail and lots of scenarios to make it not seem rushed and incomplete.

There's a multiplayer mode that can be pretty fun as well as an arcade mode to keep you coming back. You can play through the main story again to find all the golden gun parts and clues if you want for achievements. The game also plays better on the PC due to the pin point precision of a mouse, and the addition of the latest DirectX 11 graphics which will require a monster rig to run at a decent frame rate. I didn't find any major problems with the game, just a few annoying ones that were persistent throughout the whole game like the difficulty imbalance, some bullet time quirks, and actually a big issue with last-man-standing. If you have a pill bottle left and you die you get a few seconds to shoot that enemy and Max will automatically consume the bottle. If Max is flopping around or turned around you have to wait for the reticle to automatically face the enemy. If you are out of ammo you're screwed. Some times objects will be blocking your shot and you get screwed there too.

Overall, Max Payne 3 is a wonderful game with top-notch cinematography, superb voice acting, and high-end visuals. Fans of the first game will be pleased with this lengthy shooter, but the gameplay itself can be repetitive, and shallow some times. The cinematic bullet time events are spread too thin, but it can be forgiven due to how wonderful everything else is. Max Payne 3 was well worth the 10 year wait, and here's to hoping there is another one.

~Score: 8.5/10

The Good: Beautiful visuals, nice WWII setting

The Bad: Boring story, broken stealth mechanics, technical flaws

I have really given this game some time and I tried to forgive it. I rented this on Xbox 360 when it first came out and gave up after the second level. I bought this as a cheap Steam sale about a year ago and have just had it sitting on my HDD since then. I have gone back here and there to try to beat or continue this game. I just can't do it and have finally given up. After two years of giving this game a chance I doubt it will become better over time. The paper-thin story, poor stealth mechanics, and technical flaws just bring this promising game down.

You play as a British spy infiltrating Germany during World War II and other occupied territories for...I don't know really. The story is presented in flashbacks that don't really explain much other than why Violet is at that current location. You have various goals you have to complete, but there are enemies in between that you have to kill off or avoid. A stealth game has to have great stealth mechanics like sneaking, killing, and gadgets which Velvet fails in every category. First off, she moves way to slow when crouching. You can never catch up to enemies who are walking because they just leave her in the dust. This is extremely difficult when you are trying to quickly kill someone before you are spotted. The kill moves are pretty cool, but you have to be in the exact position the game needs you to be before you can trigger it. You also have to be extremely close which is ridiculous. This isn't Splinter Cell where you can trigger the kill at a reasonable distance.

You get a few items to help you kill these Nazis. You can use Morphine shots to become invisible, freeze time, and do an automatic kill. This is useful for a guard that has spotted so you can take him down really quick. You get a silenced pistol, but ammo is hard to come by so use it wisely. Some times you can also use a Nazi uniform as a disguise, but if you get too close to enemies they will recognize you. The game has shadow stealth which means if you hide in the shadows you will have a blue aura around you and enemies won't see you. This game has some of the dumbest enemy AI I have ever seen. You can whistle to lure a guard to some shadows but he won't see you even though you are two feet in front of him. If you are seen and try to hide the enemies know exactly where you are and you can't hide from them. What kind of lame crap is that?

The game looks good and has a nice visual art style, but there are some technical flaws here. Animations are pretty bad with some terrible sound effects. The footsteps all sounds the same and the animations just seems floaty and canned. I also found some of the guards patrols to be very long and the overall patterns are hard to work around. It's difficult to figure out how to take out enemies because there are no natural hints or obvious paths most of the time.

Overall, Velvet Assassin was a promising stealth action game set in World War II but has a pointless story, broken stealth mechanics, and some technical flaws. The game looks good, but other than that there is no reason for you to pick this up. Rent this if you want to play a stealth game with a sexy protagonist, otherwise look elsewhere.

~Score: 5.5/10

The Good: Excellently crafted story, likeable characters, dialog choices are fun, engaging combat, deep customization and leveling, captures the Star Wars feel perfectly

The Bad: Weird combat problems, ugly and dated visuals, stiff animations and some iffy voice acting, some dialog trees are just broken or off, every planet is laid out to similarly

BioWare is a company that revolutionized the action RPG genre for the western era. In a time where Japanese RPGs dominated the market, BioWare was sitting in a little studio churning out one of the best RPGs of all time. I remember when I was younger how much of a big hoopla this game was. For someone who didn't own an Xbox or a PC that could run the game it still slipped under my radar. I eventually got a chance to rent the game years later on 360 and quickly got bored due to its age. I finally picked it up again on the PC and I am glad I did. The game may feel very dated and old (an entire decade), but there's no denying the excellent story and well crafted atmosphere that truly feels genuine in the Star Wars universe.

You play a custom character that has to defeat the evil Sith Lord Darth Malak. He has found some sort of Star Forge to use against the Republic, so you are shadowing his footsteps to find the Star Maps to this Star Forge. This takes you across several planets such as Tatooine, Dantooine, Kashyyyk, Korriban, Yevin, and even Taris. You acquire companions along the way of all types and endure some pretty tough battles and story choices. You have to constantly choose between the light and dark side during choices, and there's plenty of ways to go about the story.

Firstly, you can choose any world in any order. Each one is roughly laid out the same with a large hub area then an area beyond where your main quest and some side quests lie. I got rather annoyed with the constant similar layouts and wished for variety. Each world has the Star Map area blocked off until you fix some global catastrophe on the planet. Some are so serious that your decision will determine if you are allowed back on later. Besides running around and talking to people to get quests and buy stuff, the combat and customization is fathoms deep; fans will be pleased.

You can customize your character with a plethora of items such as implants, shields, different weapons from lightsabers, blasters, vibroblades, belts, armor, robes, headgear, and I haven't even started on leveling up. You should pick your character based on how you're going to fight. I chose to use melee weapons because you eventually go through Jedi training and get your first lightsaber. I have to say that this brought a smile on my face when I inserted my crystals and watched my character whip around those sabers with the classic lightsaber sounds. Nothing can top that.

The game allows you to customize all your items by inserting upgrades that you find or buy. This is mandatory because there really isn't a "most powerful weapon in the game". You just get a powerful weapon and you have to upgrade it or it won't do you much good. Other than this there is the deep leveling system. You can choose an attribute, feat, power, and skill. Feats effect what you use physically in combat and what combat attacks you can use. Powers are force powers and there are plenty of them. All light and dark powers you can possibly think of are here. I had a lot of fun using them in combat and getting an edge over certain enemies. The level cap is at 20, but most people probably won't even hit that by the end. I finished at level 18 and didn't have too hard of a time finishing it. You can even choose how your companions level up because you can control them too! This is great for people who like a variety and can't have every skill available for your character.

Combat is turned based with die rolling behind the scenes. I really would have like real-time combat, but what's here is exciting and fun on its own. There are tons of different enemies to fight on each planet, and some are harder than others. I found the game really hard at first, but after a while you will level up and find the game very balanced. There are some issues in combat that just really annoyed me. There seems to be a targeting problem in small areas. When you click your action you want the characters will get stuck in an endlessly looping animation if there is someone in their way. This can cause you a battle because you have to disengage and restart the attack or move around the obtrusion. This happened quite a lot, but you will learn to just live with it.

While the story is interesting and choosing how dialog will change it is fun, there are some issues here. Instead of your choice being final, some dialog trees will allow you to go back and change your answer or no matter how you persuade or force persuade neither will work and you can't continue the dialog. This is usually in side missions, but I have never seen the persuade option fail so much in a BioWare game. No matter how much I leveled up my persuasion attribute I failed an awful lot. Other than this though, my other issue is that some dialog just drags on way too long. I found myself skipping a lot of it or just reading ahead of the voices. These, again, are just minor issues that can be overlooked.

The graphics in the game look old and terrible these days, but back in the day they looked amazing. I can see why it looked so good then, but you can still feel the Star Wars atmosphere and that's what counts the most. The character models and animations are stiff, blocky, and repeat a lot, but overall it works. Even some of the voice acting is spotty at best, but overall it is pretty good.

KotOR is an amazing Star Wars experience, but the age may turn a lot of people off. My biggest issue of all is that the game doesn't give any clues on where to go ever. You get no hints and are left on your own to just figure out what to do. I had to use a walkthrough through most of the game because I had no idea where to go, or some quests were very cryptic. This is a huge no-no for me and really hurt the score the most. Overall, this is an amazing Star Wars game and any Star Wars fan will love this game.

~Score: 8/10

The Good: Awesome art style, solid and fast paced game mechanics, genius level design, great scoring system, AlienFX support

The Bad: Too many bugs and glitches, poor gamepad support, music grates after a while, constant trial and error will turn some players away

This game was a complete surprise to everyone. An old-school action game with 8-bit graphics that has a very weird story, but is still fun and interesting? Can't be possible! Well it is because of the genius level design and over-the-top perspective where special game mechanics were worked in to. Enemies can shoot through windows, you use doors to your advantage, and there are so many different weapons, the fun is endless!

The game is based on cheesy 80's snuff films where you are a hitman that goes to different spots and just kills everyone in the building. The story is very weird yet entertaining, it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't need to. That's how great this game is. You start out by picking an animal mask that you have unlocked, then you go in and try to clear the stages without dying. One hit and you're dead in this game, let me make that very clear. You get a split second window to kill someone before they kill you whether they are facing you or not. If you are behind them you get an extra split second, but you won't clear a hallway before they shoot you. Enemies who have melee weapons are easier because they have to come towards you. The strategy is to see where the enemies are placed in each room and clear the stage accordingly.

It starts out simple, but you will see how addictive and fun it is when your character slices open a neck, smashes a head into a carpet, or blows someone's brains out. The second genius thing with this game is that you are punished for using guns which makes the game very easy. Shoot someone and every enemy in the level comes after you. You are to clear the rooms quickly, not quietly, which is the key here. There are a few different types of enemies like dogs which are really fast, and big fat guys with scarfs that can only be killed with gunfire. Save these guys last so the entire level doesn't come after you. A good strategy is to step out of a corner and hide again and just stick out enough to you can whack anyone who walks by. This is another key strategy to winning the game.

The boss fights are really tough and require thinking outside the box to beat. One enemy has two wild cats that come after you, a female ninja, then he has two uzis that will pulverize you. You have to eliminate each one in sequence without dying. Remember, one hit and you're dead. The trial and error is very rewarding because it just feels good to clear a whole level without alerting anyone. The game is very fast paced so a level can be cleared in less than a minute or just seconds. Learning the strategy of each level allows you to get better scores.

You need to use combos to rack up scores, and gunfire is frowned upon in this game. Switch up weapons, use doors to knock enemies down, be bold and lure enemies around corners, kill several enemies at once, it is all based on skill and not luck. This game just feels so good to play and I couldn't put it down. There are 18 chapters in this game, and at the end I wanted more (hopefully DLC will follow).

There are some major issues that keep this game from scoring higher though. When the game was released it was nearly unplayable. Even now the controller layout sucks, before there wasn't even controller support and the keyboard and mouse controls are terrible. There are game breaking bug and glitches that don't let you progress in the game, and while the music is pretty original, it repeats way too often and you end up muting your speakers. The game should have just gone through some more testing or a couple more months of development time before being released. Even now there was a bug that kept me from advancing past chapter 16. I finally tried it one more time and I passed it, no idea how or why.

Hotline Miami is a fast paced action game that has genius level and strategy design. The graphics work very well for the setting, and the mechanics are just extremely solid. I just wish it was more stable and had better controller support. People with Alienware computers will get AlienFX support here which is unheard of in an indie game. As it stands, this is one of the best games of the year.

~Score: 8.5/10

The Good: Playing as a vampire feels powerful, new quests are fun to do, a lot of new vast areas to explore

The Bad: Disappointing loot, not enough new enemies, can get lost in some of these new areas, story makes you feel like a middle man rather than a hero

It took quite a while for a DLC to come out for Skyrim, but here it is. Vampirism is where this one will take you and while it is a fun ride, it is quite short and a bit lacking in content. You can choose to side with the vampires or Dawnguard, but the main story line is the same. I found all the quests fun, with some beautiful new locales, but I really wish this DLC was more.

You start about by hearing about a rumor of a castle off near Solitude. Once you arrive you are greeted by vampires and the lord of them all asks if you want the gift or not. I of course chose to and am glad I did. The new vampire form has its own set of perks and skills. Using melee to attack or magic spells is fun, plus the bat teleportation spell is great to use. The vampire design in Dawnguard is fantastic and strays away from cliché looks. They look like beasts rather than the typical Hollywood vampires. I chose to side with the vampires, so I can't tell you how the Dawnguard quests went. The side quests are fun and vary greatly on what to do. Same goes for the mains quests, but I have one major complaint about a particular main quest.

One quest has you trying to figure out how to get Auriel's Bow from the Snow Elves, yes Snow elves, and this is one confusing quest. You have to pass through 5 different portals that take you to new areas, but the quest marker doesn't point to them all like most quests. You really have to figure out where to go and this quest will take almost 2 hours to complete. It takes you through vast areas such as icy caverns, phosphorescent caves, and falmer territory. Because these areas are so vast (probably more vast than any other interior area in Skyrim) you will get lost easily. I spent most of my time trying to figure out where to go because there were so many branching confusing paths. Some people may like this, but at least make the quest marker point in the right direction.

The DLC is also extremely buggy with quests that you can't complete, items that won't appear or drop, and many other things. I had to advance some quests using the command console because a bug prevented me from moving on. The story is a disappointment as well because you feel like you're just the middle man in some family dispute. Serana is a great companion, but the other characters are hard to like because you don't visit them very often except to get quests. There weren't any crazy plot twists or anything like that. I honestly felt like this is something that could have just been kept in the main game as a faction quest. For the high price point ($20) there isn't much loot that you can walk away with and feel satisfied about. The biggest loot is Auriel's Bow which is useless for people who aren't using archery. There are a couple new enemies thrown in, but overall this DLC doesn't feel like it is worth $20.

The most important thing is that it is more Skyrim which is what people want. It is more quests that are fun and allow you to continue leveling up your character and looting. Skyrim may not ever have a Shivering Isles type expansion, but let's hope that the future DLC will be more enjoyable than Dawnguard.

~Score: 8/10

Armored Princess is a fairy tale game of a princess who gets sent back in the past to awaken Teana (mother Earth in a way) to help stop an evil force that will destroy the world. You are also trying to find a man named Bill Gilbert along the way who plays a key role. To awaken Teana you needs 7 stones that are scattered across a few islands. Of course this involves a few boss fights and many battles. Armored Princess is extremely difficult to the point that 90% of the people who play will uninstall it after you get off the first island. This game is brutal on any difficult other than easy and using the warrior class.

The problem with Armored Princess is that it requires too much grinding. For a turn based strategy this is expected, but this one goes way too far. You need leadership points to increase your mass unit capacity. Each unit requires a different amount of leadership. You also need gold to buy them, and the problem is this comes way too slowly. You either need to be able to level up quicker or enemies need to be scaled back. You run around the world in real time collecting things in between battles like leadership points, runes for acquiring skills, gold, units, scrolls, and other items. Some enemies roam around the world and some are blocking loot. You can right-click on the unit to see how you will fare against it. Enemies that are very weak compared to you will run away and you can end the battle by just letting them go. Enemies that are all the way up to invincible are impossible to kill. You need to level up and acquire more powerful troops. Sounds simple right? Not at all.

The problem started after leaving Debir, the first island. I was killed very quickly no matter what strategy I used. You can buy more units but they are in limited stock. Once you buy them all out that's it for that location through the whole game. You have to wander around the islands finding stores that sell these. Most units are pretty useless such as horde units. You can have over 1,000 but each unit only does 2-3 damage. They also get killed very easily and are just a waste of gold. So, I found myself running around exploiting the game trying to scrounge up what leadership points I could find, scrolls, gold, and anything else I could get. This is not fun one bit. I don't want to inch up behind a roaming enemy just to get 70 leadership which can get me one lousy unit. Even if you find all leadership flags on every island it isn't enough. You have to level up and buy equipment to get a lot of leadership. At one point you can fly around which means you won't run into enemies, but you can only travel to other islands by your ship.

Battles are really fun and addictive and that is what kept me going. All the units are very unique with awesome abilities. You also get a dragon that sits off on the side of the battlefield that can use it's abilities. You also have a spellbook that allows you to cast one spell per turn. Enemies move around the hexagonal grid and attack. You eventually learn what units are good against others. The more units you have stacked the more damage they do. Yellow numbers are overall damage total and the red are the amount of units in that group that has been killed. It feels great when one of your groups can knock out a large one from the enemy. There are things that block parts of the grid off that you have to walk around, as well as neutral obstacles that will attack the troops or give them passive defensive abilities. Battles are just so much fun and become really addictive, but how you level up your character and choosing the right troops are key to winning.

That is if you win any battles at all at one point. Being forced to do side quests to level up to earn leadership and gold is just a real pain. Several times I wanted to give up because it was so unfair. I would wipe out all the armies that were equal in strength to me and lower. I would level up a bit, scour the islands for weaker enemies, rinse and repeat for 50-60 hours. It does get tedious and boring after a while because this is all you do. When you finally level up enough to get stones you feel like you are finally making progress. In all honesty, 1C should have just made you a bit more powerful and allowed you to level up faster or something. The whole scrounging thing was just insanely annoying and difficult. It doesn't help that if you run from a battle you lose your entire army. If you are wiped out you start off at Debir castle with a few lousy units. What if that one powerful unit was the last at that store? Where am I going to find another one? Who knows. There are dozens and dozens of stores spread out and that one powerful unit could be anywhere.

There also aren't any extremely powerful troops overall. They only become powerful in quantity. There are troops that you can only have a few of like Red Dragons, Ancient Ents, Ogres, Golems, and other large troops. I wanted to see a few one unit troops that were extremely powerful. The troop availability is also random so you never know what you are going to get. I just found going from island to island after each battle to restock just got tiresome.

The story itself is mediocre with the typical text-based fairy tale adventure of elves and orcs and dwarves. You won't remember the story a year from now, but it is entertaining while you are playing. I just with this game wasn't impossibly difficult because it makes it not fun. Most people will result to cheating using the console command to acquire levels and leadership. When you get to a high enough level the game is fun, but until then you will struggle and probably quit.

With fans being so upset with Diablo III, I have to first say turn here. Torchlight II builds upon the already excellent engine and adds more content, a lengthy campaign, and tons of great loot. The dungeon crawler genre is all about the great loot, leveling your character, and fighting tough bosses. Once you get to the last couple of dungeons you will be guzzling potions like crazy. The game is non-stop action with no breaks. While Diablo III may have larger budget in the millions, a better story, and better graphics, Torchlight II delivers on what the fans want; loot, dungeons, and bosses.

You can pretty much forget the story. It is told in three pieces and isn't very interesting. Something about Nephilim invading the world and you trying to stop it? I honestly don't know. I lost track because the story is broken up too much and told in between three large acts so you forget what happens. What does matter is the action. You can choose between 4 strong classes that are typical for the genre. Mage, duelist, warrior, and a middle ground guy. Each class has a slew of great abilities that you actually won't completely acquire in one play through. I chose the duelist and stuck with akimbo pistols. There was even a perk called Akimbo! There's something here for every type of player.

The loot feels nearly endless and it is actually good. There are boss chests, large chests, and just regular ones spread throughout. You don't have to worry about getting good loot. Of course most of it ends up being junk, but when you beat a boss you will get something good. You can equip rings, belts, shields, leg and body armor, helmets, you name it. You can enchant items that add random stat increases, add jewels, even disenchant items to regain money. There was even an option to use junk loot to create new items like potions. I'm glad there are a lot of options for the main part of the game; the damn loot.

I found the dungeons and enemies to be plentiful and varied. I never really got bored. Each area has small, large, and champion enemies that get tougher to fight. Some times you will be swarmed by over a dozen, but that is the whole point. Every step led to an enemy and I felt the urge to uncover every part of every map. I always found a secret somewhere or a new champion to beat. Doing this helps you level up faster to make the game easier. There are side quests that are fun, and some down right tough bosses. A couple at the very end had to be beaten 2-3 times over which is a challenge all on its own.

When you die Torchlight punishes you with gold instead of lame armor damage. Resurrecting at the entrance is the cheapest option, but doing so in town is free, just inconvenient. The best one is resurrecting on the spot but costs 3 times as much as at the entrance. This really makes you think if it is worth it or not. Usually I only resurrected on the spot in the middle of a large overworld area where backtracking would take forever.

You still get a pet this time around, you can equip armor and other items on it. You can have your pet take your loot back for you, sell it, and now you can give it a list of items like potions and scrolls to bring back for you. You lose your pet for 2 minutes, but this is a life saver. Let your pet do the tedious work while you continue fighting. I found this almost revolutionary for the genre which is already one of the least updated in the gaming world. If you want one reason to play this, the loot is what kept me going. I wanted to acquire new abilities, and get the best weapons and armor. There is also great balancing in multiplayer which is what most people are going to play.

Overall, Torchlight II is a lot of fun and has all the genre staples that people want, lots of great loot that is dished out often, tough boss fights, and a lot of strong varied enemies. Sure, the game isn't a technical hound, but who needs that for this type of game? The story kind of sucks, but in the end we just want to click away and kill stuff. Diablo III and TL2 are always being compared for a reason. TL2 did everything everyone expected D3 to do and it didn't. For even a fraction of the cost of D3 this game is a steal.

The Good: Riding dragons, new shouts armor and weapons, gorgeous new locale, being back in Morrowind, great story, huge world to explore

The Bad: Short main quest, not enough content overall, riding dragons is more restrictive than you think

The splashing of waves, the grass between your toes, the ash in your eyes, and Dunmer at your feet. Ah, it's nice to be back in Morrowind! Iwas surprised when I found out Dragonborn took place in Solstheim which is a volcanic island just off the coast of Morrowind. You arrive there due to a strange occult thing happening. People are building relics in their sleep, basically sleep walking and building. You ask around about a guy named Miraak and people say he sounds familiar, but they can't quite remember. As you ask around in the main city Raven Rock, you will be greeted with Devin Mallory's brother, and various other people who are very interesting to talk to.

I first have to mention that Dragonborn has some of the best art in any Elder Scrolls game. When you start getting the Black Books and travel to Apocrypha (Hermaes Mora's territory) you will be stunned. It's very Lovecraftian with the Lurker and Seeker enemies. There are strange tunnels that move, walls made of sticks, floors covered in paper with arcane writing, and strange magic and objects. I loved these areas and enjoyed them immensely. However, the main quest line is super short, there are more side quests here which is good I guess. The final fight with Miraak (not a spoiler, it's obvious) is very challenging and you get to ride freaking dragons! This is probably the most powerful thing added to an Elder Scrolls game. I love the new shouts such as Bend Will. This will make enemies fight along side you. The new Bonemold and Chitin armor looks awesome, as well as some new weapons. There's quite a bit here and is a nice chunk of game and a great final goodbye to Skyrim.

Many of the quests are more puzzle related and quite challenging. It was nice to be really challenged in exploration in Dragonborn. One final quest has you finding cubes in an old Dwemer ruin. You have to place them in a certain order and run around finding them to open new parts up. The enemies are challenging and I found it all quite fun. There's plenty of Morrowind lore here to for long time fans, and new comers who don't know much about it.

I warn you though, you need to be at least level 20 to start this. I came in at level 7 and got my butt handed to me by the Ash Spawn, the first enemies you will encounter. I died in just one hit, so be careful. I also hated how there was no place to train for smithing, and there's only one major town. At least you can fast travel to and from Skyrim via the map and not by boat every time. I was also upset that you didn't get to ride dragons until the final quest and it's very briefly. Also be warned, Miraak will steal all your dragon souls if you kill dragons in Solstheim. He's a real bastard.

Overall, Dragonborn is a solid and final DLC to Skyrim. It is much better than Dawnguard in a sense that the story is more interesting, but there aren't two sides to play. Being able to ride dragons is a major addition to the game, the enemies are interesting and challenging, the art looks fantastic, and the lore is great.

~Score: 8.5/10

The Good: Great new story and setting, super powers are awesome, the Dubstep Gun, fun new mini-games, some awesome main missions

The Bad: Side quests repeat ad nauseum, main storyline doesn't have enough unique missions, mini-games get boring quickly, dialog isn't as witty or funny, graphics look dated, almost no new customization features or content

Saints Row has done a good job being the best GTA clone ever made. Each game added more ridiculous gameplay and a completely humorous story. Despite that, Saints Row does a very good job at entertaining us with interesting ideas. Saints Row IV is the zaniest of them all with super powers, alien invasions, and computer simulations. The Saints are now in control of the United States thanks to the main hero being the President. Various Saints characters fill other roles like Kinsie being Press Secretary and Keith David being Vice President. An alien ruler named Zenyak bursts in and starts destroying the White House and the planet. You get captured and are thrown into a computer simulation of Steelport and need to escape. You start by rescuing your friends and devising a plan to stop Zenyak.

The main story brings you through some interesting gameplay choices like previous games. A tron like level, a 2D brawler, mounted gun and RPG on-rails missions, and various others. It's a lot of fun but really short. The game is full of too much filler which is repetitive side quests after you rescue each homie. Instead of going around and doing the side missions on your own they are dealt out in quests so you actually end up doing them all. Each character needs you to do three sets of these monotonous side quests, after about the 15th time I couldn't take it anymore. Thankfully the unique Loyalty quests are interesting. At least you get cool unlocks for doing these like suits, weapons, powers, and vehicles. Besides main and side quests there's nothing else to do besides multiplayer.

The entire game is completely changed thanks to these super powers. To make it believable you are in a computer simulation, and the times when you are out, you don't have them. You can run at lightning fast speeds, jump 30 stories, use telekinesis, earthquake stomp, freeze blast, and various other super powers. They are awesome and surprisingly work well in the game. You feel so powerful and the need for driving around in cars becomes pointless because you can run 10x faster than driving. To unlock more powers you need to collect special power-ups which are scattered everywhere, but the same upgrades via money are the same. Honestly, not much has changed from The Third besides the powers and the story. The guns are nearly the same except the alien weapons are exact copies of regular weapons -- the only difference is that they overheat. There are a few interesting weapons like the Dubstep gun which shoots deadly Wub Wubs at enemies. The Alien RPG is awesome and there's a tentacle bat. Not much else in the weapons department though. There's a few new alien vehicles, but nothing so new and amazing that you will forget the similarities from the last game.

The lack of changes even goes into customization and the graphics. The game uses the exact same engine of The Third and there are hardly any new clothes or items to customize your characters with. This really feels like Saints Row 3.5 rather than 4. The game looks fairly dated with some ugly textures and jerky animations seen in previous games. At least there are all new mini games which kind of helps a bit. There are various mini games ranging from on foot races, giant tower climbing stretches, various other races, and a few games that revolve around your powers. After a few tries at each you will be pretty bored with them like previous games. The fact that all the side quests push you through these makes it a bore fest after so long.

There's just an overall lack of uniquity and originality in Saints Row IV. It tries to use the same tricks as the past three games and you soon realize they don't work anymore. The dialog isn't as catchy or funny, the missions (even the main ones) can get really repetitive in between the occasional unique and exciting mission. There are many bugs and glitches in the game as well as severe difficulty spikes which can be very frustrating. There's a lack of enemy variety and the whole game at the end just feels very repetitive and redundant. Honestly, Saints Row needs another reboot or the series may fall by the wayside.

That's not to say the game isn't worth playing. After some side quests you will blow through the main missions and probably be done with the game. This one is more of a rental than a purchase. New comers may find a bit more replay value, but Saints veterans will put 20-30 hours in the game and call it quits. I love the super powers and the whole alien invasion thing, but the lack of originality and new ideas kind of makes the series take a couple of steps back. Even the lack of new content hurts it more, this really just feels like a giant expansion of The Third rather than a true sequel.

~Score: 8/10