Transformers Fall of Cybertron: Do You Love Freedom?

Transformers! Robots in disguise! MOAR LIKE ROBOTS SHOOTIN’ GUNZZZZ!  God, that was awful.  I am sorry.  On a more serious note, in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron those Autobots and Decepticons do not hide.  They are doing the complete opposite; blowing everything to hell and back.  This is the sequel to Transformers War for Cybertron that was released a couple years back. AND OPTIMUS LOVES FREEDOM!

So, if you completely oblivious to any Transformers lore, you should know that Autobots and Decepticons are robots and they hate each other.  Autobots are pro-freedom and ‘Cons are all about ruling over everyone – Well Megatron is.  The backdrop on this game is that Megatron and his motley crew (Decepticons) have used all the resources (energon, it’s kinda like oil for robots) on their robo-planet, and they want to move to a new planet to harvest it for more.  The last bad ass, I mean Prime, Optimus says “Screw you guys, I’m going home” (SPOILERZZZZZZ***************IT’S EARTH!!!!!!!!!).   Without spoiling too much of the campaign, its balls-to-the-wall action, and it literally never let up.  Its jaw-dropping awesome.  I think the best thing about this game and it absolutely blows its predecessor out of the water is how it seamlessly transitions from character to character.  One of my major beefs with War for Cybertron was how you had to play one campaign and then the other to ‘complete’ the game. The story plays out as one faction and a big name character, and after finishing their mission we are treated to some narrative (or action) that flips it over to a different character.  The campaign does this numerous times, and each time it’s a different character.  There is a lot of variety when it comes to the character too; some are about stealth, some are flying around, some are HUMONGOUS, and some are hack ‘n slashers.  It works really well, and feels organic.    You don’t have any problems like that; you get a feel for how each side of the robo-civil war plays out. The great thing about this game is that it delivers a lot of fan service, and some of it is rather surprising.

   

Gameplay wise this game is an improvement.  They really didn’t change it up much at all.  Don’t fix if it ain’t broke, riiiiiiiiiiiite?! Transfomers plays like the standard third person shooter except you can’t get into cover, and you transform into a vehicle to speed away from danger or rush into danger.  One big change is that if you press the B button it allows you to switch weapon hands; it’s so handy! Harharhar aside, this is quite innovative for a third-person shooter.  It’s like changing camera angles while behind cover and it gives you a brand new edge to the battlefield.  Another, somewhat minor addition is that all characters have gained the ability to dash in robot form – if I recall correctly only cars were capable of this in War for Cybertron.  This is a welcome addition because it gives the robot form more mobility and they feel less squishy – pro players will use this to their advantage to get behind cover quicker or flee from a heated battle easier. They added in quite a few new abilities (see grappling beam thing) and weapons, but they keep a lot of the old ones too – thank god.  I loved the ability to turn invisible, to spin around rapidly with a robo-axe, and to hover around in robot form.  The same could be said about the weapons, some new ones but mostly familiar faces are used.  They did change in this game, especially in the single player, that you can only carry a regular weapon and a heavy weapon (usually some sort of explosive weapon).  I’m pretty sure this is different, and it was kind of a hassle especially when you wanted big bang guns to face off against bosses. 

Some of my favorite gameplay sections (MINISPOILERZ): You get to play as Grimlock the dinobot that’s a T-REX! Oh my cheesy rice, it’s so much fun!  When you play as Optimus you gain the ability to fire artillery on big baddies – he literally says “I could use this weapon for freedom”.  Talk about broner! Then there’s Jazz (if you watched the first Transformers movie he’s the car that talked like a black dude – hilarious stereotyping!) who is the grapple master.  He has a grapple beam thing that allows Jazz to jump around all over the place, and bring down heavy things.  It’s fun.  OH! Then there’s Bruticus.  He’s made of, like, five ‘Cons, and he’s too bad ass and massive!  His level plays out as if you are Godzilla and you are destroying everything in sight – glorious!  I think it’s also worth mentioning that the other characters you play as in the game are equally as fun as these aforementioned powerhouses – in fact, one of my favorite levels was playing as Vortex the helicopter (!!!!) Decepticon.  I nearly forgot the RPG element to the campaign, so you get money for vaporizing enemies ‘n shit.  You can use your cyber dough to purchase upgrades for weapons (you can get an upgrade for the pistol where one shot is basically a HUGE explosion!), purchase new weapons, and buy upgrades that boost your health, speed, damage ect.  The great thing about this is that each upgrade you purchase follows you through the campaign and new game +.  This is essential when playing on harder difficulties because baddies hit you for a ton more damage, and there are generally a lot more of ‘em.  

Graphically speaking, this game is easy on the eyes.  I’d say it’s on par or a smidgen better than War for Cybertron.  I’d give it an edge considering it steps out of robo-metropolises and we get to visit ancient ruins and sewers.  Despite how yucky that sounds, it’s refreshing to not see Tron-esque cities and landscapes.  You’ll discover while playing this game that Cybertron is a mess, and isn’t as pretty as it was in the past game – everything’s all busted!  I will say, I thought the characters, especially in cut-scenes, looked a little rough.  Their faces looked blurry when they had up-close dialog and what-have-you.  That’s no good! Just about everything else looked pretty good – especially the animations.  You can tell they worked their tooshies off creating a different feel for all the different character archetypes and how they transform and what have you.

Ok, so I have to admit, the multiplayer was a hidden treasure for War for Cybertron.  I really loved it, and it had a lot of depth to it – especially in loadouts for your character and customization.  Now, I like Fall of Cybertron’s multiplayer, but I felt like it was lacking that spark that its predecessor had.  This is purely my opinion, and I could see why people like Fall of Cybertron’s better.  First off, let me describe how multiplayer is laid out.  So there are four different character archetypes you can play as; Titan (big ole tank), Infiltrator (sneaky lil car), Destroyer (This dude is like Optimus, big rig vehicle; kind of the all-around character stats-wise.), and Scientist (The jet!). I must admit they really upped the amount of customization to your characters; this game allows you to tweak every appendage, torso, color, wheels, decals, and even the voice of your unique character.  This is rather enticing; you gain money during online matches that can be used to tweak out your robot in all new, exciting ways!  When you play the competitive multiplayer each class levels up as you use them, and they unlock new weapons, mods for weapons, and abilities.  What disappoints me about the multiplayer is how the abilities are handled.  I remember in War for Cybertron you could get four different abilities and earn upgrades for ‘em.  This game you are only offered two!  It’s so bogus.  It’s really limiting.  Anyways, the modes of competitive multiplayer are good and standard.  Team Deathmatch (we all know how this one plays out - boom boom!), Conquest (my personal favorite; control the nodes, and whichever team with the most points wins!), Headhunter (kill dudes, and take back their heads to a location for points), and Capture the flag (you know this one too!).  It’s a pretty standard affair.  It is addicting in the way CoD is; you want to build the best dude possible.  Fall of Cybertron also includes the Escalation mode; where you play as iconic characters as you fend off 15 waves of baddies.  Very, very fun.  I don’t think they changed much to this, and that’s a good thing.  This mode is a ton of fun when you play it with your buddies. 

This game is tons of fun, and I think it’s a contender to be top 10 of the year just for the campaign.  It’s a bro-titan that should not be taken lightly.

Mass Effect 3: Multiplayer is Important?

I know, I know, Mass Effect 3 is considered by and large as a complete and total failure by the gaming community – especially because of the lackluster ending.  I don’t really want to talk about that.  I want to talk about how and why I am still playing the multiplayer, Galaxy at War.  First off it’s almost unrelated to the campaign; in my review of ME3 I docked points because of this.  We were promised something a multiplayer with a story, and the only impact the multiplayer has is affects your readiness rating which coincides with what you earn in the single player ending!  Oh man. Full circle!

Just like the single player, you create a character from the six different types (Soldier, Adept, Engineer, Sentinel, Infiltrator, and Vanguard).  Within each of these different classes lie six different races to choose from.  This is sounding complicated already, but believe me it’s freaking awesome.  The best thing is that you get to play as races that you only get to see in passing or that you’ve fought before in earlier games.  This makes me geek out on levels that only Star Wars can accomplish.  Before jumping into the warzone, you choose your class, race, and abilities.  The races aren’t just different skins; they’re loaded up with abilities that distinguish themselves amongst the others of the same class. The great thing about it is there are all sorts of builds for your character, and it’s more than an incentive to try that character again. You equip your character with two weapons, two mods on each, three types of usable armor, and special gear.  A typical match has you and three other players survive against enemy Geth, Reaper, or Cerberus troops.  You’re thinking, this is just a rip-off of Horde mode!  It’s not; it can be similar, but it’s mostly different.  Every other round you are tasked with a mission: disarm four devices scattered throughout the map, assassinate key targets, hack a computer for a certain time (this plays out like you have to stay put in a certain area for allotted time, and it fills up quicker the more players are in it), retrieve items back to an area, and/or escort a drone back to an area (this one is similar to the hack; the more players near the escort the quicker it moves).  Those make the games interesting, and much, much more challenging.  Sometimes you’ll be yelling at your teammates to move their asses to the hack area because they’re just having fun killing everything SOMEWHERE ELSE.  It sounds more frustrating than fun, but there’s a payoff.  Most of those give you more money depending on how quickly you accomplish these tasks, so there’s an incentive to get them done quickly and effectively.  At the end of the 10 waves of enemies, your squad is rewarded with oodles of experience to upgrade your character and money.  Money plays an interesting role in this game.  I’ve never played a multiplayer game that dealt with currency this way; you spend your money on different packs.  There are four different types varying in price. Within each pack you receive a random assortment of goodies, varying from characters, weapons, mods, gear, and other goodies.  The game because completely addicting because you want to earn all those characters and weapons that you haven’t unlocked yet.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours I’ve sunk into this multiplayer this summer because I wanted to get all those new characters, and play with ‘em.

LOOT!!!!11!

Bioware has been unbelievably supportive, and has continually grabbed my interest in this game.  Every six weeks or so, since the release, they release six new characters (1 for each class), several new maps, several new weapons, and several new weapon mods FOR FREE.  It’s unbelievable!  This is coming from EA folks, and they are one of the biggest money grubbing video game publishers around.  Because of this free DLC, I keep coming back to this game.  Better yet, each round of dlc they put out more interesting characters.  

 Oh and I'll totally bro-up with ya on 360. Gamertag = bobwinkle12

Max Payne 3: A Baldie with a Mission.

In the age of sequels, there are few games that gamble in being something new and different.  This is one of those games. Oh wait, I guess this is the third one.  Well, uh, ok, it was new for me.  I’ve never played any of the Max Payne games before this one.  I don’t really remember why - maybe I was busy fighting the Great Mighty Poo in Conker’s Bad Fur Day.  Anyways, the reason why I bought this game was it was mad cheap during Steam’s Summer Sale.  If you are a PC gamer, and you have no idea what I am talking about give me all your dollars, so I can spend them on those cuh-razy sales!!!  And the other reason why I was remotely interested in this shootan’ game was because I watched a video for the multiplayer and in which Rockstar devised a way to actually use a bullet time (slow-down) ability in multiplayer.  That blew my mind away.  I had to get it!  It was only thirty internet credz!

Max, you're a goddamn hero AND American.

Max Payne 3.  This game is exactly how all non-sci-fi shooters should be handled:  Crisp graphics, intriguing, gut-wrenching, heart-pumping story, and simple yet complex gameplay.  It has it all!  Looking back at it, the whole package of MP3 might even best Mass Effect 3!  Holy crap!  The main evidence is the story.  It is told in gritty noir fashion; Max Payne narrates what’s going on and what he’s thinking in each scene – even in the cut-scenes.  The cut-scenes play out like an actual graphic novel; scenes are in a panel, and are fuzzed and distorted. This is brilliant!  You are delivered story while you’re busy walking around or shooting dudes in the head.  I love it.  Max Payne’s callused, cynical outlook on everything is what makes him a convincing character.  Max Payne, like many action stars, have a troubled past (!  I almost wish Max Payne was a movie character because he would be a perfect fit for Expendables 3. ).  Apparently he got into some deep shit in NYC, and lost his wife and daughter.  The story goes that Max is picked up by an old ‘friend’ named Passos in New York to work as a body guard for some rich dude in South America.  Max is reluctant at first, but jumps at the job when he realizes all the free booze he’d get.  The cool thing about how the campaign plays out is it goes forwards and it will sometimes take you back to when Max was in New York and in between that.  It’s a great way to break up the tension, and get a look at the whole picture. Without giving away too much of the story, Max is tasked with retrieving the rich dude’s trophy wife from some truly terrible dudes –Lebowski much?  The thugs in Sao Paulo, Brazil are brutal.  I never want to visit that place.  You witness some horrifying stuff towards the middle and end of the game. The engrossing factor of the story is that Max starts a ripple in the pond, but the more he dives deeper everything crashes down on him.  It is crazy!  You experience Max as he tries to deal with the craziness – he shaves his head and wears an awful Hawaiian shirt.  Everything becomes this HUGE conspiracy, and Max is in the center of it.  You feel bad for him for being so oblivious to some stuff, but at the same time you feel inexplicably proud of him when you complete the game.  He got through some serious shit with all limbs intact.  

Gameplay speaking, this game is almost too simple.  The game plays as a third-person, over the shoulder shooter.  You move around, take cover, shoot guns, and use bullet time to get an edge on your enemies.  You get pain killers to get more health, different weapons, and yadda yadda.  It’s in these small things that you treasure.  It’s the strategy in, oh do I want to use an assault rifle or use those two smgs? It’s crazy how things play out differently based on what you use and how you use it.  That sounds rather arbitrary, but there’s really tough parts in the game where you really have to think about how you’re going to storm in that room guns a blazin’.  A new feature to the series is last stand; when you have painkillers on you and your killed you are granted a brief opportunity to kill that person.  If you succeed than you are revived and continue fighting.  This plays in to what I was talking about earlier; you debate about using painkiller before walking into a room or go in with half health hoping that painkiller will revive you.  Stuff like that is what made the gameplay a bit more involving.   There are several amazing set-pieces in this game, most of them involve you on a vehicle of some sort, and without spoiling it spice up the gameplay.  I must admit I beat this game in the course of several weeks because I couldn’t play the single player sessions for longer than two hours – it’s too intense!  There’s some parts in the game where the difficulty spikes like crazy, and I ragequit’d.  

I have to mention how stunning the soundtrack is for this game.  It’s composed by the noise rock group known as HEALTH.  Some of the music is just ambient eerie electronic that is used subtly during some of the few low key moments in the game.  There’s heavier music going on during the action sequences.  The best comes in during the latter half of the game (THE BEST HALF!) when they play unnerving music while Max is drowning in his problems.  It’s so fitting it makes me wish that HEALTH composed music for action movies.

Prepare to do this.. a lot.

MP3 mutiplayaaaaa! Okay, so this is pretty phenomenal multiplayer.  It’s not like Rockstar’s stupid Red Dead multi.  First off, you play as any of the gangs, cops, or organizations you see in this game.  And you get to completely customize the looks of your character – they offer more the more you play.  For example; I created a hipster Brazilian.  So like COD, this game features loadouts where you put together sets of weapons, armor, and perks.  This game sets it self aside with the burst feature.  You earn burst in the game to use different abilities; you can see everyone on the map, slow down time(!!!!!), do more damage, and ect. You have more of it and regenerates faster based on your weight; (Yeah! The game knows how fat you are! Lulz!) all the equipment and guns weigh your burst regen down. They have a lot of noob friendly modes which are more than welcome – you can get outclassed rather easily in this game.  After you reach a certain rank you’re not allowed to play in ‘em anymore. Those noob friendly modes are a heaven-send because high level dudes rape you vigorously if you are not prepared.  It actually takes quite a while to get any type of weapon with attachments at a decent level, so keep that in mind.  The multiplayer is extremely fast-paced and the matches fly by if you’re not paying attention.  There’s several crazy game modes that I liked.  One of them is called Payne Killer, where you and some other player are Max and Passos.  Those two have the best stuff, and have to fend off the rest of the players.  People become Max when they kill him.  It’s anarchy!  And fun!  Gang Wars is probably my favorite.  It takes two teams (gangs), and they go up against each other in five different objectives.  Whoever wins the most objectives take the game.  It’s a lot of fun, and a great way to make the green.  There’s also Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch.   I ended up enjoying the multiplayer a lot more than I intended; it helps that there’s so much stuff to unlock!  The bullet time actually works in multiplayer, and it’s pretty awesome.

Overall Max Payne 3 is a Grade A game.  If you have a hankerin for a shooting game with a brain, pick it up.  I loved it and I never played any of the other games in the series.