Gaming Addict

I love BioWare for a variety of reasons.  One of those is their renewed efforts to better support their games via DLC upgrades.  Case in point, the newly announced upcoming DLC pack for Dragon Age: Origins, “Return To Ostagar”.  This pack puts you right into a great revenge fantasy that I’ve been waiting to carry out, taking place after the events of the first battle you encounter in Dragon Age. 

Possible Spoiler Alert!

Priced at only $5, or 400 Microsoft Points, this is pretty much a bargain.  I’m hoping for a good amount of Darkspawn to slay, and some badass armor.  BioWare has teased that you’ll be able to find and use Cailen’s armor.  But how about Duncan?  Duncan had some pretty badass armor, and I’d love to be able to borrow that from his corpse.  Not like it’s getting much use there anyway.  

This does beg the question however, is Return To Ostagar a quest that was to be included in the original game, before BioWare decided they could cut the quest to fans to pay extra?  Seems like content that could have been in the original release.  Obviously it was done in time, considering the pack is to release this holiday season, only weeks after the game’s release.

But hey, it’s cheap, and if I get 5 bucks worth of fun out of it, who cares.  

Joining the bandwagon of excessive collector’s edition games is Bioshock 2.  The just announced set will come with more than a few great extras.  Nothing really that does anything for the gameplay, but if you’re a fan they may be a good addition to your game memorabilia collection.  I’m a bigger fan of special editions that offer free DLC, but I can’t complain about cool extras.  

The Bioshock 2 Special Edition will include:

• 3 posters of vintage ads from around Rapture.
• A vinyl LP featuring the score from the original Bioshock.
• CD featuring Bioshock 2’s score.
• and a 164 page art book, featuring conceptual art and developer commentary.

I guess that’s all pretty cool.  Although I don’t see myself putting up posters from Rapture around my game room.  If you’re a fan I see all of this as pretty cool extras to enhance your game experience.  I just think extras that augment gameplay are more worthwhile.

Like Dragon Age: Origins’ Blood Dragon Armor, and Stone Prisoner DLC that came with every new retail copy.  You can’t beat a whole new character to include in your party, especially when they’re as genius as Shale.  Or armor that’s almost as good as anything else you can find in the later stages of the game. 

Yesterday I couldn’t have cared less about Bayonetta, today I’m inclined to be ever so slightly interested.  There’s a new video showcasing a few of Bayonetta’s upcoming special finishing moves.  They’re everything I enjoy from a violent game.  Gory, full of flying blood, with more than one decapitation in the mix.  What more could you ask for?

Just watch the video:

Bayonetta has a freaking guillotine that she magically summons to slice the head off whatever foe she’s battling.  I’m still not that big of a fan of the Japanese beat em up style.  I don’t really like the stylized Ninja Gaiden meets Devil May Cry combat.  I’m more in the RPG mold for my melee combat.  But these finishers will definitely inspire me to at least reconsider the game.  

Even if Bayonetta does not look like a real woman because of how horribly disproportioned her body appears. Seriously, Bayonetta’s head is obnoxiously small, it totally creeps me out.  This is the figure that resulted from months of research into designing the sexiest female heroine?  I guess I don’t understand, or I have different personal preferences?

On a side note, Bioshock 2’s final cover art has been released.  Basically just the original Bioshock cover with a different Big Daddy:

Borderlands didn’t do something that most modern RPG’s always make sure to include.  That’s character creation/customization.  I’m a big fan of this, as I think spending the time to develop your own character gives you a connection.  This is your creation, and you can play out your role either as an extension of yourself, or who you want to become.

That being said, Borderlands is still a great game.  Diablo as an FPS essentially.  The game’s system of creating guns on the fly as you loot bodies is amazing.  The game hasn’t been out that long, but already we can look forward to DLC support now, and in the future.  

The first DLC will be The Island of Dr. Ned, which will feature a whole new island that you can access via the fast travel network.  Like most of the game the plot here isn’t really important, what really matters is the action.  The Island of Dr. Ned features plenty of action involving zombies, and a giant Frankenstein monster with a chest on his back that you can loot.  

Gearbox promises more Borderlands support, and possibly increasing the level cap, adding a weapons locker, and other much needed improvements.  Let’s hope they come to fruition.  All those adjustments would make a great game even better.

Tuesday saw the release of some long awaited White Stripes material for Rock Band.  I know I’ve been waiting for this forever, because Jack White isn’t the greatest guitarist, and Meg certainly isn’t the best drummer, but the White Stripes’ music is fun.  Getting a group of friends together to rock out and pretend play “Icky Thump”, “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground”, and “Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine”. 

My favorite of the three being Icky Thump, mostly because I’m a guitarist myself and it’s really fun to play the chorus breakdown solos.  Trying out the Rock Band versions was especially fun.  I’m still not the biggest fan of the music game genre, but Rock Band and Guitar Hero are still fun distractions.

Guitar Hero needs to take some lessons from Rock Band though, as Rock Band seems to make more tracks available.  I’m all for as much music available as possible to play. 

But I couldn’t ever see being a hardcore player.  Mostly because I still don’t see why you’d spend so much time playing plastic instruments when you could learn the real thing.  Actually playing guitar and drums is cooler, and tends to attract more ladies…or dudes, if that’s your thing. 

One of the greatest things in the world is when people accidentally reveal news they probably weren’t supposed to reveal.  Like composer Shawn Lee, who told The Gaming Liberty “It looks like I will be doing the soundtrack for Bully 2 in the not so distant future.”.

Rockstar is yet to announce any plans on a sequel to Bully, but if Shawn Lee’s quote is accurate, looks like the game is definitely in production.  That’s a good thing, as Bully went unfortunately unnoticed back in 2006 when the game was released.  For some reason a sandbox style game featuring a misbehaving teenager didn’t appeal to the masses as much as gangsters that shoot hookers.  

But Bully was a fantastic game in it’s own right.  For the most part a high school simulation that allowed you to live out your greatest trouble making fantasies, and then some.  If you haven’t yet played the original, I’d highly recommend the game, whether on PS2 or Xbox 360.  The 360 version is great, although it doesn’t offer anything over the PS2 version besides some expanded content and higher resolution textures.  

Although you’ll want to make sure you download the 360 patch, because the original release of Bully: Scholorship Edition was full of glitches and bugs.  As for the Wii version…well, any Wii version should be avoided unless that’s your only option.  

Visceral games announced today that a demo for Dante’s Inferno will be coming next month for Xbox 360 and PS3.  The demo is actually going to be pretty awesome, as Visceral are offering the entire first level of the game to whet your appetite.  That means you’ll get to play through most of the first circle of hell, before deciding whether or not you want to buy the game.  

I personally can’t wait, as I’m always intrigued to see an artists conception of what hell would look like.  Visceral have said on numerous occasions that they’ve gone great lengths to make this experience feel as though you’re playing through hell.  The only part that worries me is the way the game plays.  Many early previews have indicated that the game takes a Devil May Cry control route.  Sure DMC is a great game, but I don’t want to play the same thing in someone else’s shoes.  

I’m hoping Dante’s Inferno more borrows from the ideas started in Devil May Cry.  Not to mention giant bosses and a punishing difficulty level.  All would be very welcome.  But I want this traverse through hell to be a terrifying experience of it’s own.  I hope all the originality wasn’t wasted on the environments, because I honestly don’t focus on those as much as the fighting. 

The collector’s edition package for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has finally been released, and dubbed the Ultimate Sith Edition.  This set includes the original game, as well as all of the DLC that has been released for Force Unleashed up to now.  That means here you get the Tatooine and Jedi Academy levels, as well as an exclusive to this edition Hoth level. 

 I remember being disappointed in both the Tatooine and Jedi Academy levels, especially considering how much they cost via Xbox Live, and how little gameplay they had to offer.  All in all I’m just not sold on The Force Unleashed.  I know the game sold horrendously well, but it still wasn’t a spectacular Star Wars game.  Rather, Force Unleashed was a glimpse into how great of a game we could have had if Lucasarts had put in a little bit more time and effort. 

Everything just felt overly simplified.  From the lightsaber combat, to the way your force powers function.  Everything could have used some polish.  Here you get that same unpolished experience, with three new levels.  This collection isn’t worth buying if you already have purchased the DLC levels.  But if you’re new to Force Unleashed, or haven’t sprung for the DLC, maybe the Ultimate Sith Edition is for you.

Just don’t expect a spectacularly different experience.  

I really wasn’t prepared to like Saw as a game.  I’m a big fan of the movie series, but normally games based on movies turn out to be terrible.  But what I got with Saw really impressed me more than I would have thought.  Of course the Saw game isn’t anything ground breaking or spectacular, but what you get is definitely worth of your play time.

The game starts out just like a Saw movie.  You’re introduced to the game’s protagonist Detective Tapp, who finds himself in a rather precarious position.  The gameplay picks up with Tapp regaining consciousness in a dark room, finding that Saw’s famous reverse bear trap has been affixed to his jaw.  You are then tasked with matching the button sequences on the sides of the trap to disarm the reverse bear trap.  You’ll have to do that quickly, or else Tapp’s skull will be pulled apart in a nice little gory game sequence.  

The first trap is very easy of course, but serves as a good set up of things to come.  Not to mention, including one of Saw’s most popular traps in the first few moments of gameplay is a brilliant stroke to capture the feel of the movies.

The gore won’t make you feel as queasy as anything in the films, as the game’s graphics leave something to be desired.  But they do stand up just enough to disturb where intended.  All in all not a bad game, but once you’ve gone through the traps for the first time, you won’t need to do it again.  So I’d suggest renting Saw, because you’ll only play it once if you buy the game.  

South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! is ridiculously entertaining, but probably only if you’re a South Park fan.  Which I have been for the show’s entire run, and the unflinching brilliance that is Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s writing throughout the series.  South Park LGTDP captures this humor perfectly, which is just what this paint by the numbers tower defense game needed.  Featuring a story by the South Park scribes, and their custom awful and hilarious voice over work, LGTDP is a full South Park experience.

While many will be painfully reminded of the horrendous South Park gaming forays in the past, LGTDP is not among those.  I still remember the South Park FPS game that I had on Playstation, and how everything seemed like a good idea at the time.  But the gameplay got repetitive and severely boring almost immediately.  LGTDP suffers no such fate.  Rather LGTDP stays fairly fresh and always hilarious as you control Stan, Cartman, Kenny and Kyle throughout the games campaign.  Creatively sprinkling show references throughout dialogue, and enemy types like ginger kids, and hippies.  

LGTDP really shines when played with a friend, as the game can be fairly annoying when played alone.  But as long as you can find a buddy that’s also interested in South Park, you’ve got yourself a decent experience.  South Park combines traditional tower defense tactics, such as building your own defenses and then upgrading as levels progress, with the ability to take the reins of any character and unleash your own snowball based attacks.  Each character also comes with their own special powers that can be triggered during a level.  All of which offering their own level of uniqueness, usefulness, and hilarity.  

All in all worth the 800 MS points in my book.  While semi short, South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play provides endless replay ability.  As long as you’re a South Park fan, you can’t go wrong.