Games and Gamers

Posted by Marita | September 23rd, 2011

Dungeon Siege III is the latest effort by America-based studio Obsidian Entertainment, and published under the SquareEnix umbrella. Obsidian is no stranger to being passed the reins to a popular franchise when the original developer is ready to move on. Dungeon Siege III joins the developer’s portfolio alongside games such as Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Fallout: New Vegas. All sequels to wildly popular games originally designed by others, and all met with a fair amount of success at both the critical and retail levels. Whether DSIII continues this trend has yet to be decided.

Dungeon Siege III plays like most action-RPG dungeon crawlers a la Torchlight, Titanquest, or any one of dozens of other “Diablo clones.” Enemies come at you, you do your best to whittle their health bars down to nothing, you collect loot. DSIII does add a layer of depth in the combat by giving each character two different fighting styles. For instance, if you’re playing as the fighter Lucas, in one fighting stance you use a two-handed weapon to thin herds of enemies and to push them away from you. When down to a more manageable number of foes, it’s best to switch to your sword and shield stance, making it easier to focus your damage on a single baddy at a time. Similarly, Reinhart’s two styles alternate between ranged attacks and close combat. The need to pay attention to the situation in order to maximize your damage and likelihood of survival is what keeps the game from devolving into a simple button masher.

In fact, combat seems to be the only real engaging part of the game. The RPG elements present are all pretty dumbed down. While there are skills to develop, there are only nine for each player. Three attack skills for each fighting stance, and another three passive skills triggered while blocking. You won’t need to bust out the slide-rule to maximize your DPS on this one. At the same time though, you won’t be able to fully develop everything in a single play through, so be sure to put your points into the things you use most often.

The loot is similarly simplistic. With the exception of rings and amulets, each piece of equipment can only be used by one of the characters, making it easy to decipher who gets what. Once you navigate the archaic menu system to figure out what each of the different ‘chaos’ stats means, it’s easy to figure out what’s an upgrade for you and what’s not. The real shame is that the loot table just seems to lack any real pizazz. There weren’t many drops during my time with the game that made my head turn, much less bother to open a menu and equip it right away. Even my first rare item seemed like just another minor upgrade in a string of minor upgrades.

If you count story as an RPG element, it’s been dumbed down as well. In this latest journey through the kingdom of Ehb, we find the land torn by a long and bloody coup. Jeyne Kassynder blames the 10th Legion, officers who have maintained peace in Ehb for centuries, for the death of her father the king. After three decades of bloodshed she has very nearly succeeded in eliminating the remaining legionnaires and the few others loyal to the rightful Queen Roslyn. As the player you will take control of one of four warriors, each with their own ties to the Legion, on a quest to avenge your fallen brethren.

Unfortunately, and I’m not saying this to toot my own horn, but that last paragraph is about as interesting as the story gets. The plot ultimately comes off as generic, and the presentation doesn’t make it any better. The voice acting is mediocre, and the NPC dialog trees are boring at best. I get it, your town is named Stonebridge because it has a really long stone bridge. How original. Actually, it was about this time that I started skipping the dialog altogether. Something that I (as a general rule) rarely do. Amazingly enough, the game actually was better for it. In fact, the couch co-op feature allowed me and a friend to while away a few hours shooting the breeze and killing bad guys, merrily skipping all dialog along the way, blissfully ignorant of the reasons why those giant spiders had to die. It was only after our umpteenth quest when we had run out of things to talk about, that we realized how much time had passed. Despite the obvious flaws, we had to admit there was some quality to the game if it had managed to divert our attention for that long.

So yes, Dungeon Siege III is a good game, in the same way that vanilla ice cream is good ice cream. If they had bothered to add some nuts and sprinkles it could have been something special. Still, if you like couch co-op games, or are just looking to let time pass while you kill man-sized spiders, Dungeon Siege III might just be the game you’re looking for.

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Posted by Marita | September 19th, 2011

Soccer Bashi is an old school style action puzzle game. When I was a kid I used to play Arkanoid in the arcades. If you never played or heard of Arkanoid its a brick breaker style game where you have to break bricks to make it to a more difficult “next” level. Soccer Bashi’s gameplay is quite similar in overall structure but has its own presentation and atmosphere associated with it. I played this particular Playstation 3 Minis title obviously with the Duel Shock Controller. To be frank the Duel Shock 3 and Soccer Bashi do not mix. As far as the overall game goes it plays good and there were no bugs or glitches during my playthrough.

There is no story really. If there is a story it takes place in the future. The most popular sport in “this” future has to do with smashing blocks and to smash a ball through the goal. Like I said no story.

The graphics looks average for a Playstation Minis game. The presentation is that of many colors and mostly Soccer paraphernalia. There is nothing that stands out regarding lighting, effects etc. Some of the upper levels did feature more interesting level design and neat looking robot enemies. The backgrounds sometimes feature interesting designs but as far as textures lighting and art are concerned very average for a handheld game.

The sound design in Soccer Bashi is that of cheap sci-fi movie music hardly worth writing about. Its easy to write bad about a PSP game that has been ported over to the Playstation 3. Sound included.

What Soccer Bashi lacks in visuals and sound design makes up with it through its gameplay and large amount of content. There is a regular Play option and Tournament option (both fun). But the beef of Soccer Bashi’s content lies in its Level Editor. Its true this game has about different levels for single player and tournament gameodes but also a level creator. I spent some time with the game’s level editor and its pretty neat. You can place blocks anywhere and decide which types of blocks to place. You can place robots that shoot laser beams at you if you want. You can test and play your level for practice. You can even set up different background themes instead of the soccer background theme that you see most of the time.

The gameplay is all about smashing blocks or scoring a goal againt a mechanical goal keeper to make it to the next level. Each progressing level is slightly more difficult. Certain blocks drop power up items that range from all types of abilities. Some blocks drops items that makes the goal keeper disapear while others make your platform protagonist shoot fireballs at the blocks. Some items slows down the ball that you use to score a goal or destroy blocks. There are enough items that changes gameply which can make it easier or more difficult. Soccer Bashi is an old school type game and its gameplay says it as well. Its fun but kinda wore itself out years ago.

Replayability is this game’s strength. You have 90 playable levels that can keep you playing for hours. You have an level editor thats surprisngly pretty deep. You can put many hours into Soccer Bashi.

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Posted by Marita | September 16th, 2011

If you are looking for some challenging games to play online, motorbike games are here for you. The fun of playing these games could not be explained. There are thousands of motorbike games available online these days that suits the interest of all types of gamers. For instance, if you are a sports bike lover, there are drag and circuit games available online. On the other hand, there are also dirt bikes games for dirt lovers. You can ride your dirt bike on the hills, dirt and any other places you could imagine. These games are also best for pro gamers, as it will offer a thrilling experience. When you play motorbike games online, you will also get a chance to unleash your racing fantasy, which is not possible in the real streets.

When you are playing online, you will be able to race with some of the best sports bikes such as Yamaha R1, Hayabuza, Suzuki ZXR, Honda ZBR as well as many other bikes. You also have an option to select the track based on your needs and interests. Most of the games come with different types of tracks and levels. As the level increases in the game, the complexity of the game also keeps on increasing. However, like other games, before you start playing the game, it is very important to read the instruction part and know about the controls in the game. In most of the games, arrow keys are used for moving forward, left and right in the games. You also have an option to modify your bike according to your needs. For instance, you will be able to change the color of the bike and the player’s costume. The choice of bikes in most of the games is also very exciting.

Most of the motorbike games will also allow you to set the difficulty level according to the knowledge and skills of the player. For instance, if you are purring this game for your kid, you will be able to set the difficultness to easy. On the other hand, for adult players paying with hard could be more fun. There are also some motorbikes games available online that come with a 3D effect. These games come with amazing quality graphics and options.

Therefore, if you are looking for some fun online, playing motorbike games could be the best option for you. These games are very fun and exciting to play.

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Posted by Marita | September 12th, 2011

Do you enjoy competing against your friends and playing online games? is one of the most popular online games today. While these games might look relatively simple as they consist of lines and a black circle, it is the simplicity of the animation that has made these games so incredibly popular. You do not need a lot of experience to begin playing. There are just a few keys and a few basic combinations of keys that are necessary to play. While there are lots of different types of stickman games available to play, you can gain an easy understanding of the games within just a few minutes of playing.

When you begin playing stickman games you will find there is a lot of variety to the various types of games you can play. Have you always dreamed of being a spy and going out on missions to take out terrorists? Do you think it would be fun to save someone from a criminal? Whatever role it is that you would like to take on, you have the chance to do just that with the various stickman games that are now offered online.

Stickman games can also be extremely entertaining and even funny while lifting you from your boring everyday routine.

The many different sniper based are without a doubt among some of the most popular games offered today. One of the aspects that make these games so popular is the fact that you can take on a fun role while at the same time choosing a game that will fit your pace. Stickman games allow you to build your skill levels as you move from one game to another. There are numerous mini-missions that are assigned to you and it is your job to take out targets. What is so challenging about these missions is that you must kill moving targets and oftentimes you must take them out before they kill someone. In order to be successful at these games you need to have very good control of your mouse. In many cases you will only have one shot to take out the target so you have to make that target count.

The good news is that if you are new to and you happen to miss your shot you can usually go back and try again and keep on working on building your skills. Before you know, you will be a pro sniper and will be ready to move on to the more advanced levels. Stickman games even offer the opportunity in many of the games to unlock special components that can only be accessed when you reach a certain level. This aspect of has made theme extremely popular with people who are quite competitive. If you enjoy competing against your friends you should enjoy this feature as well.

While the sniper and assassin stickman games are wildly popular today, they are certainly only examples of the wide variety of different games that can be played. There are also adventure games and fighting games that can be played as well. Of course, if sports happen to be your thing, you can also enjoy playing stickman games that are sports based as well. Whatever it is that you enjoy, you can find a stickman game that will allow you to get your game on and spend some time playing and relaxing online. While you don’t have to compete with your friends while playing stickman games, if you wish to do so, you can do that as wel

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