CreatedCardGame.com » review

Dawn of War 2 Retribution Review

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:57:47 +0000

For the past half a decade, if you wanted to play a Warhammer based RTS game, Dawn of War has been the best and only choice. The franchise started in 2004 with Dawn of War, got a few expansions, and then a sequel, Dawn of War 2 came. Now it’s getting its own sequels, with Dawn of War 2 Retribution being the second one. And we can safely say that it’ll more than please Dawn of War fans.

Dawn of War 2 Retribution is a standalone expansion, so you don’t need the original game to play it, which is always a plus. Retribution follows the same gameplay style as its predecessors, and is more of a Real Time Tactical game than a strategy game, as the focus is more on commanding your forces and less on buildings an infrastructure. And that’s actually a good thing, because the battles in Retribution (and its predecessors) is intense and will demand your attention 100% of the time. Multiplayer wise, there’s regular multiplayer where you can play as six factions, and there’s even a co-op mode as well. If you’ve played Dawn of War multiplayer before, you’ll know that Retribution follows the tried and tested formula. Sadly however, there isn’t much new in the offerings, both singleplayer and multiplayer gameplay wise.

The story in retribution is wider than in the previous titles, where you only got the story of the Space Marines, the de facto good guys in 40K. In retribution, you can command other factions as well throughout the campaign and get their point of view. This of course means the campaign is somewhat diluted, since it has to fit the other races as well — all six of them. The story in the previous games was tighter and more focused, but then again, in Retribution, you get the story from six point of views, which gives the campaign a lot of replayability.

Visually, Retribution is built on the same engine, which means its one of the best looking RTS games out there. The player models have lots of detail, the effects are great and the camera and motions are fluent. Overall, Retribution, as an expansion and standalone game, is a great addition to Dawn of War fans and those looking to get into the series.

The Good:
Tried and tested Dawn of War gameplay
Tense action
Great visuals

The Bad:
Story is weak
No much new

Overall score: 8/10

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2nd expansion
Accoring to several news sources, an email from E3 said that Relic Entertainemnt will be revealing …
Mass Effect 2 prequel novel announced
BioWare has announced a prequel novel for Mass Effect 2, called “Retribution”, which has been writ…
Dawn of War 2 beta this month
The sequel to the critically acclaimed and popular RTS Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War will have a beta t…
Dawn of War 2 “There is Only War” live until Sunday
PSP No Longer Ready at Dawn

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Rock Band 3 review

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:19:02 +0000

Rock Band was responsible for starting a huge new trend in gaming, where music played the center stage — literally. Since then, a rivalry ensued between Rock Band and Activision’s Guitar Hero, which jumped on the band wagon, so to say. Now MTV Games and Harmonix are back with the third installment of Guitar Hero.

Rock Band 3 follows the same path as the Rock Bands of the past, and it does it in style. Put simply, if you were into Rock Band before, the third installment will satisfy your music needs. However cliched that sounds. In addition to the guitars, drums and mics, Rock Band 3 brings the keyboard as well, for the complete band package with support for up to 7 players. 83 songs are included in Rock Band 3, and all vary quite a bit. The campaign, called “Road Challenges”, gets you and your band on the road to complete a series of ever escalating challenges. Your performance is tracked through out the game and you get awards for completing certain tasks, which offers great replay value, even though a game like Rock Back has plenty of replay value, as long as you got folks to play with.

The new addition is the keyboard, which is sold separately at $80 or $130 with the game. The keyboard is a bit more complex, with 25 keys, and even has Pro challenges, where your keyboard skills are tested, and where you can learn some new tunes as well. There are Pro challenges for other instruments, like drums and guitar as well. However, the instruments are still quite expensive — the drums will run you $40, a guitar for the Pro challenge will run you a steep $150 — although the new guitar is quite a bit more complex, and offers over 100 buttons instead of the strings. But it’s still quite an investment your looking into: to make a complete set for a few friends can easily cost more than you spend on an Xbox 360 or PS3 console.

Overall, Rock Band 3 follows the tradition of previous Rock Band offerings, and adds a few new features, and refines others. It also follows the Rock Band tradition of costing quite a lot to get a few instruments.

The Good:
Follows the Rock Band tradition
Lots of different tracks
Great campaign and many modes
Awesome in multiplayer

The Bad:
Still pricey
Not as good in singleplayer

Overall score: 8/10

Rock Band Surpasses 28M Downloads
In even more Rock Band news, the latest issue of Harmonixs Rock Band Community Zine included some…
Rock Band Green Day coming?
A “performance” by American band Green Day is available on MTV.com, however, it’s not the band the…
HIM on Rock Band 2 this Thursday

When I was younger I admitadely fell in love with everything CKY/Jackass much like pretty much e…
Rock Band 2 Wii in Late December
LEGO Rock Band coming?

Dawn of War 2 Retribution Review For the past half a decade, if you wanted to...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Blood Stone 007 review

admin — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:20:33 +0000

Activision is giving us two 007 games this holiday season, GoldenEye 007 for Wii (read our GoldenEye 007 review) and Blood Stone 007 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Blood Stone 007 is a third person shooter with a few interesting highlights, but most of which is far too generic and repetitive.

In Blood Stone 007, current Bond Daniel Craig lends his persona and voice to the game, where he plays 007 on a mission hunting terrorists across the world, leading you to several locations and different mission types. The gameplay is a standard third person shooter taken right out of 2005, and its visuals as well, and we’ve seen smarter enemies on the PS2 ten years ago. Usually they’re just waiting for you to take them out, and even when alerted, offer little to no challenge. The main chuck of the game, you’ll be infiltrating one place after the next, killing enemies, hunting them and so on, in exotic places and far end destinations like Siberia. There are a few noticeable missions, like the driving ones, which stand out and are quite well done. That’s no surprise, since developer Bizzare Creations previously worked on the Project Gotham Racing series. But those missions are far and in between to really make an impact.

Visually, the game looks bland and quite boring, besides the driving missions which manage to take things up a notch. The enemy AI is so vague that you can easily complete the short 5 hour campaign without dying. What’s worse, this being a Bond games, you really don’t have any gadgets besides the usual arsenal of pistols and rifles. You have a souped up cell phone. And that’s it. Multiplayer is just as bland with no innovation at all. A few basic modes (deathmatch, team deathmatch etc.) and to make matters worse, the best part from the single player campaign — the car chases and vehicle missions — are not available in multiplayer. Shame. In fact, when we said in our GoldenEye 007 review that it was one of the best Bond games ever, we can say the opposite about Blood Stone: it’s one of the worst, shallowest and most boring Bond games ever.

The Good:
Good vehicle missions
Good voice acting

The Bad:
Bland visuals
Repetitive combat
Bad AI

Overall score: 3/10

NBA 2K11 review

admin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:58:40 +0000

Believe it or not, Michael Jordan has never been on the cover of an NBA game. Until now, with NBA 2K11. So if the greatest basketball player is on the cover of a game, does that mean, or hint, that’s it’s the greatest basketball game of all time? In short, yes. NBA 2K11 is the most extensive and polished b-ball game to date.

The highlight this year is of course Michael Jordan, who isn’t just playable for the first time in NBA 2K, but is also features in a whole new mode dedicated to him, called Jordan Challenges, where you’re in control of Jordan throughout memorable games of his career, like his NBA Final performance against the Jazz, and 9 other challenges waiting for you. But if you complete all challenges, you get to play as a rookie Michael Jordan who’s inserted into the league.

NBA 2K11 features accurately rendered players, as you might expect, and complete with their signature moves, shot styles and so on. While they’re rendered to great details, their jerseys often stand out as way too large and it almost looks like they’re wearing body armor instead of shirts. But that’s nitpicking, really, because the game carries an astounding level of polish and details. For instance, the crowd will start to fill up during the first quarter, then the stadium will be filled during the game, and if it looks like the be a blowout win (or loss), you’ll see them walk out during fourth quarter. It’s little things like that which add up and make for a memorable experience playing NBA 2K11.

The gameplay is key of course, and NBA 2K11 takes the good parts from last year and improves it, but again, it’s in the little things, the AI improvements — for instance, when you drive the lane, it’ll get clogged up like in real life, and players will hustle after the ball and so on. That’s not to say there aren’t any glitches, for instance, running fast breaks is at times nearly impossible, as one defender will be able to snatch up the ball in longer passes, even if it seems unrealistic that he would. One thing we didn’t like was creating and playing with your own players. After you create your player, you’re forced to go through hours of boring practice before you can use him in the NBA, and his skills will be rather tame. Which means you need to spend even more hours in the gym, running drills and what not if you want a decent player, when all you want is to actually play with him in the NBA.

The Good:
Great gameplay
Lots of details and polish
Many modes and lots of replay value
Great visuals

The Bad:
MyPlayer mode is tedious
A few bugs and glitches

Overall score: 9/10

Singularity review

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:37:23 +0000

Raven Software, makers of last year’s (somewhat)flop Wolfenstein, are back this year with Singularity, a first person shooter with a few new twists, chief of which is a time manipulating device.

Singularity isn’t one of the complex, serious FPS games, with an intricate storyline and deep characters. Rather, it’s a run-and-gun game which doesn’t take it self too seriously, and above all, tries to be fun. And for the most part, Singularity succeeds. It offers high paced gameplay and some cool puzzles, especially with the use of the Time Manipulating Device, the main selling point of the game. You can use the TMP to quickly age enemies into dust, or create a bubble where time slows down, giving you plenty of time to take out enemies. There’s lots of of weapons to shoot as well, and they’re pretty varied and each have unique features, like guiding your bullets.

The action is pretty solid, although there are some bugs here and there, and the AI isn’t especially smart. It’s good enough for head-on battles, but once you start flanking and thinking creatively, the AI can’t keep up. Another disappointing thing about the game are the visuals, which looks somewhat date, despite the use of the Unreal Engine 3. Textures are low-res, shadows are jaggy and lighting feels pale and doesn’t add much value. Having said that, there are some interesting set pieces in the game, and the boss fights are well thought-out, albeit not as challenging as they could have been.

The multiplayer part only has two modes, but despite only two, they’re diverse and offer the use of the great features from the single-player part — like the time manipulating device. Overall, it’s a great game for those who don’t expect anything from their shooters but to be quick and fun. But we’d love if the new features of the game were used better and more, and the visuals really need to step up a notch. Hopefully that’s enough for a sequel, as there’s plenty of great stuff to build on.

The Good:
Great new weapons and features
Fast paced gameplay
Interesting multiplayer

The Bad:
Too many missed opportunities
Dated visuals
Quite a few bugs

Overall score: 7/10