Platinuming The Force Unleashed 2

First of all, sorry for the brief disappearance. I had a little overload with school and I had no time or inspiration to write here. But I'm back, so all's good!

Now, I have been busy with games in the mean time, specifically one. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. For those who remember my game collection post would know this isn't a new game I just got. No no, I have this since the end of august. Along with other games like Portal 2, Borderlands, Crysis 1 and a few more, this marks a beginning, a beginning of something I've been way to lazy to do. I've Platinumed a game of old. A game of old is a game that is easy to Plat, and I have for over six months.
But I'm here to talk about TFU2.

TFU2 is kind of an easy game to plat, as long as you have the skills to finish it on Unleashed. It's no easy task, you can be sure of that. The enemies are extremely powerful, the life you get from killing enemies is low as shit, and the force regeneration along with the use of the force powers is a bitch! But with enough patience and maybe someone with you to keep you calm, it's a fun thing to do. By the end of the game you should get the hang of how to deal with every enemy easily and you should feel like a very powerful force.
Speaking of the force, the trophy "Use the force, Luke" can be a real bitch. It tells to ONLY use force powers for an entire level. Easy right? Well, yes and no. Yes cause it's easy but no cause it actually means "Don't press square. Ever". So you pressed square anytime during the level and your quite fucked. But doing this on the first level on easy shouldn't take you longer the 5 minutes.

The challenge trophies are not as bad as one might think. Then again, you need the skills for at least a gold in every challenge. And again, someone by your side keeping you cool. You should do this BEFORE your unleashed playhrough due to extra force points being earned and Lightsaber crystals that could help you in the playthrough.

The actual Platinum in my trophy library.

I really like TFU series. It's a freakin' hack n slash in the Star Wars universe, my favorite genre with the universe that's responsible for my favorite weapon, dropkicked Ewoks. Kidding it's the Lighstaber but common, who the hell couldn't keep a straight face when they first drop kicked an Ewok on Endor?!
Anyways, TFU 2 was my 8th platinum. I'm proud of myself actually reaching out of the GoW series and platinuiming a bigger variety of games. My next platinum's should be: The Sly Trilogy, Borderlands, Crysis and maybe AC:Revelations.

Castlevania : Lords of Shadow Review

I've never played a Cstlevania before. Just wanted to get that out there because most of the reviews I've read have the constant "This is not Castlevania" remark. But frankly, I don't care whether or not this is similar to a classic game from the 90's, I enjoyed, and still am enjoying the game for what it is- a 3rd person hack n' slash with its graphics being the best part of it all.

In Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, you play as Gabriel, a Brotherhood member who lost his loved one. Gabriel is on a quest to first seek his loved one and eventually turns into a quest to defeat the Lords of Shadow.

The story is told in a little awkward way that only the patient gamers will get to enjoy. I myself am not patient enough to wait in the now finished loading screen to hear the end of what Patrick Stewart has to say about Gabriel. The story is also partially told through scrolls you pick up from dead body's that also give you hints about puzzles and an easy way out on the expense of the bonus EXP points you get for spending on new combos and moves.
This brings to another downside of the game- too many combos. The game offers a combo purchase menu where you spend points you earned from killing enemies, solving puzzles, completing quick time events and for finishing a level. But the combos that are offered are not add-ons to your current Square mashing attack, but rather different ways to execute an either weak heavy attack that'll cost you more life than you would've lost if you stuck with square mashing, or simply another way to mash the square button. With that said, the game does offer lots of special kind of attacks, or rather dispensable weapons with likes of throwing knives, holy water bottles, fairies to distract and stun foes, or an amazingly powerful daemon creature that kills all enemies that surround you.

Fans of the God of War series will feel most at home with Castlevania's combat, the simple Square mashing combos can be enough to get you through the entire game with a little quick time events to make your life much easier. But despite being able to play with one combo, the game is incredibly difficult. Enemies are very powerful on "Hard" difficulty (2nd hardest out of 4, hardest must be unlocked by finishing the game).
The game does make a good job balancing this with something the GoW fans will be very familiar with- a "Super" form. Castlvevania offers 2 different forms, Light form and Shadow form. Light form replenishes your health with every attack made, depending on how strong the enemy is. The Shadow form is what GoW fans would be more familiar with, an extremely powerful form that deal about a1/3-1/2 more damage than regular attacks. This works very well and replenishing your magic meters consists of collecting "Neutral magic" orbs that are dropped by dead enemies, or if you chain enough attacks together without getting hit you will enter a state where every attack that's landed drops a ton of magic.
The game get easier as you progress, probably due to you getting better and learning enemy patters, and increasing both your life, light and shadow gauges with collectible gems spread around each level.

The games best aspect is undoubtedly the graphics. The environments are so rich and filled with color, you would do anything to see more of them! The character's models look great, with the exception of Gabriel's head being a little to small for his big body. Just sayin'.
The enemies look gruesome and disgusting, just as you'd expect Goblins, Vampires, Demons, wild Beasts, Werewolves and Chupakabras to be. Speaking of Chupakbra, this is enemy is annoying as fuck! What he does is take you on a little hide and seek game around mid game till the end, but the catch is that he takes all your relics and powers making you week and slow.
Back to graphics, Castlevania's landscapes are very detailed and there's nothing like seeing a giant castle starting to show in far distance. The boss fights tend to have you fight a giant statue or creature and using quick time events to either hurt the enemy or stun it so you can go in for an attack. These boss' especially the giant stone/titan boss' look amazing and gorgeous! When you see them from a distance you never think you'll see it from up close, but when you do you'll be amazed from the detail they put into the titan's body and visuals.

The game does have little FPS problems, where it could drop even in a cutscene, but mostly during gameplay. This can be an annoyance at times and a bit distracting but you get used to it pretty quickly,
Speaking of cutscenes, the uses the ingame engine to do the cutscenes and has a very smooth transaction from gameplay to cutscene, without having to sit though a loading screen or even a second of a black frame! And the cutscenes look absolutely amazing, but again, they show how small Gabriel's head is.

The game's sound and voice acting is nothing out of the ordinary, at least it didn't do anything special that caught my attention with the exception of Patrick Stewart narrating during the load screens and acts as a supporting character, Zobek.

VERDICT
After spending hours with the game, and a few moments of frustration I actually enjoy Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and I am planning on platinuming it eventually. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is definitely a game that fans of GoW, Datne's Inferno or even Darksiders should at least give it a try.
With that said, the poor story telling doesn't ruin the experience, you can get a pretty clear idea from the cutscenes alone.

Gameplay: Fun and easy Hack N' Slash combat with needles combos for purchase.- 8.0
Story: Poorly told and only true fans of the series or interested and gamers will get into it.- 5.0
Sound: Nothing special, with the exception of Professor X lending his voice for the loading screen and for Zobek.- 7.0
Graphics: One of the best looking games from a 3rd party developer I've ever seen, the FPS drop doesn't hurt the experience and Gabriel's head is a minor distraction. (No pun intended. Actually it was.)- 9.0
OVERALL------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.5!

Vita's True Potential- Advantages over the PSP

The PSP was undoubtedly a failure. From it's 2004 launch to current day, 2012, the PSP has undergone over 3 changes in size, shape and look. Better screen, no WiFi, smaller, no UMD drive-- Sony have tried it all but with no success.

One of the most requested features of the
Vita- Dual analog sticks.

With the launch of the PSVita a lot of the PSP's weak spots have been patched and eliminated. Dual analog sticks, up to date hardware and no more silly mini discs to lose or break, the Vita has potential. But the one thing the Vita cannot eliminate and what was the biggest issue with the PSP, is the the hacking- the PSP was so easily hacked even the dumbest of people could check a guide on the internet and have their PSP hacked and loaded with any game they desired in less than an hour. Although the PSVita has yet to be fully hacked, it's inevitable that the Vita will be hacked, and as soon as that happens 3rd party developers will lose interest in making AAA games for the Vita because the odds of actually gaining an income will be incredibly low to non existent.
I admit I'm a long time PSP hacker, but that's just because of the horrible quality games that came out. Please don't hate me and bear with me. I'm 90% sure I will NOT hack the PSVita when I receive mine in November, for the reason that I wan't the network features, the exact same reason I don't hack my PS3 and I still have a big library of games and I enjoy my PS3 very much!

The Vita hacked to play PS3 games, not only as the controller
but as the screen as well.

Another thing the Vita improves is the cross platforming feature it has with the PS3. The most the PSP had was controlling the PS3 (with incredible lag btw) and seeing the XMB on the PSP's screen. That's the most the PSP could do. The Vita on the other hand already has games that support swapping saves for on the go gameplay. In the future I'm sure we'll see the exact same type of control the WiiU has with their big ass tablet controller right in our hands with the vita and PS3.The lack of four buttons can be annoying, but can easily be fixed with the touch screen and/or the rear touch pad. The potential is massive in this particular department, we only need Sony to take a chnce with this and enable this for developers. Imagine a world where games are not programmed for the Xbox, ported to the PS3 and remade or not even released for the Wii, but rather games made on the PS3, ported to the WiiU (Due to the PS3 presumably being weaker than the WiiU, thus making it easier to develop and then port to WiiU. Search online for the way games are released  for the PS3 and Xbox for further information.) and only then being remade or ported with much less features to Xbox, due to the ability of the Vita to work as a WiiU controller. I don't hate the Xbox, it's an amazing system and I'd love to own one, but I do hate how games with great potential are lowered to fit the power of the Xbox instead of fitted for the power of the PS3. Just look at Uncharted and God of War! solid FPS, amazing HD graphics and sharp detail! Now look at Castlevania: Lords of Shadow-- one of the best 3rd party games I've seen in a while, but isn't in the same league as GoW or Uncharted are due to the fact that it was firstly made to fit the Xbox rather than the PS3. I'm heading off topic here, but I promise an entire post dedicated to the difference in development.

A perfect example for the evolution of the Sony handhelds

To conclude, the PSVita has a huge advantage over the PSP and could easily be a hit for Sony, if only they treat it right and maybe try out my idea. That'll mean they will stay in the console war and be a heavy competitor for the WiiU for years to come!


Thank you for reading, and I'd appreciate if you'd take a minute to share my blog with fellow gamer friends!
Good Gaming!

A man and his Game: Kingdom Hearts- Part II

Is a personnel, emotional connection possible with a game? A product made for entertainment? Well, I don't know what you think, but I think that yes, it is possible. Kingdom Hearts is more than entertainment in my opinion, it's a piece of art that every child should experience in order to understand what friends are and what friends are for.
Kingdom Hearts is very kids friendly, combining Disney and Final Fantasy in the most childish way possible, kids won't be scared of the characters or even the enemies.

"The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"- Sora after final battle KH1

Riku consumed by the darkness

But that's not my point. My point is that this game teaches a very important lesson, friendship is forever, and should be a persons first priority. I played KH in a crucial point in my life, at the age of 9-10, when I started making my friends that'll stick with me and building my personality.

You might be asking yourself what is it with Kingdom Hearts that's so different. Well, what makes it different is that Sora's goal, the reason he goes on this quest with Donald and Goofy, is actually to find his two friends- Riku and Kairi. Along the way Sora risks his own life and the entire journey in order to save the friends he made and the friends he's looking for. At one point, Sora even sacrifices himself on order to save Kairi, something I'd be willing to do if ever needed thanks to Kingdom Hearts.
 And at the end of KH2, when Sora is back with his friends on there island, He receives a letter from Mickey, asking him to embark on one last journey to help everyone he met and mankind (or any kind that's in danger in KH) from the Heartless and evil doers out there, risking his own life because at that point, shit got serious and it wasn't child's play anymore.
Friendship isn't the only thing Kingdom Hearts taught me. Kingdom Hearts taught me to never give up hope, no matter how bad things look. Sora never gave up, even when his bestfriend seemed ti have turn on him and accept the darkness he fought and believed in his friend, he believed Riku isn't doing this willingly and he was right. The quote above speaks for itself.
The last thing Kingdom Hearts taught me was to help others, even if you don't know them. Being a good person might not give you money or power, but it's the right thing to do, and when you do the right thing, someone out there see's that, and appreciates it. And besides, if you help someone when he's down, he'll want to be there to help you when you're down.

Sora stabbing himself with the Keyblade
to give Kairi his heart.

It's been years since I played KH1, and I slowly forget scenes and lines I once knew by heart.
I have no way of playing it, PCSX2 doesn't run it properly on PC and my PS3 isn't backwards compatible. Even if it were, I lost the disc a long time ago and I don't know if I'll be able to find a new copy in Israel, and this just makes me sad! I want now, as a teen and a pretty mature one to see what Kingdom Hearts does to me.
I know I will be smiling the whole way through with my heart beating like a drum! But I wonder if I'll ever get to a state of tears in my eyes, seeing the base of my childhood and personality again as I experienced it years ago. It makes my heart race just thinking about it :)

Thanks for reading, I hope this means something to other people as well.
Good Gaming!

Sequels I'm Excited for.. For Uncommon Reasons!

2011 Was a great year for games, but sequels in particular. With the release of Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Portal 2, MW3, inFamous 2 and more, 2011 was definitely considered, and will be considered the best year for sequels for years to come. Or not?

2012 is on the right path for that title, with likes of Borderlands 2, Black Ops 2, Prototype 2, KH3D, Bioshock Infinite and ofcourse, Assassin's Creed III, 2012 has a chance of being another year of sequels. And I'm excited for many of these games.

But not for the reason you might think. Well, maybe ontop of the reason you're thinking.
You see, it's been years since Borderlands and Prototype have made their debut, at least 2-3 and games have developed wildly in the mean time! With that said, Borderlands has a pretty dead world. You cant interact with nothing, shooting certain stuff won't even leave a mark and NPC's are pretty much dolls. I look forward to a world like Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, where everyone is alive and respond to your actions.
In Prototype, I look forward to the graphics really, since it came out with horrible looking graphics, and New York city wasn't the best looking city.
KH3D is NOT a game I'm looking forward to play, for the simple reason that I can't. No 3DS. And no plans to buy one, especially with my Vita being bought in November, I won't have money to buy a 3DS, and anyways, I'm not buying one just for 1 game. But I will look up all the cutscenes on Youtube like I did for Re:Coded.
If you've read my post about Battlefield and Call of Duty, you'll know I'm not a fan of the annual CoD releases, because it's basically the same. But in Black Ops 2's case, I am looking forward for to see what Treyarch does this time around with the popular Zombies mode. With YouTubers like Syndicate (Search TheSyndicateProject on YouTube), Treyarch have come to learn that the Zombies mode has a really big fanbase! The demands for a lone Zombie game are high but very unlikely in my opinion because they can pack the same amount of content in a lone Zombies game as they can a Call of Duty branded game+ expensive DLC  and make even more money. It's called business. Or being a b*tch, what you feel is right. ;)

Thanks for reading, and as always-
Good Gaming!

I'm Back! + My Trophy Hunting.

I don't want to make any promises this time, but I'll do my best to stick around, it's not exactly easy with my school life.

Anyways! During this time, these 3-4 months, I have been hard at work scoring more platinum trophies and building my games collection with games like Assassin's Creed, Need For Speed, Motorstorm and many more. The new platinums are: Assassin's Creed II, Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten sands, The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North and GoW: Ghost of Sparta.
I think that the best game to platinum out of these was probably Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft don't make hard trophy sets, not at all! But they do require you to thoroughly play the games, looking at every corner for a hidden collectible.
The longest platinum was definatley War in the North that makes you play through the game 3 times, each time on a different difficulty. It's not that bad actually, especially after the first playthrough you can just put on some music and go into autopilot mode (When your sub-consciously make the desicions in the game while you think about other stuff) and enjoy. Plus, War in the North rewards you for multiple playthroughs, by giving you better loot, and loot is everything in this game! No, seriously, it is.
The fasttest one is easily my 4th GoW platinum, Ghost of Sparta which made do only oe playthrough, and about half an hour- an hour of EXP milking, for some artifacts of zeus or somin' like that.
The next few games on my list are Mass Effect 2- only the very hard difficulty trophy left, Crysis- only the Super Soldier difficulty left and Borderlands- a few misscellaneous trophies left to snag.

I will hopefully be popping out a few more posts tonight, so stay with me!
Oh, and good gaming!