Skyrim: Don’t install on the Xbox 360

What once was a rumour has now been confirmed by many 360 users. It seems that Xbox 360 users have been having major issues with Bethesda’s latest addition to the Elder Scrolls series. While most games consoles benefit greatly from a game install (Fallout3, Rage) Skyrim on the 360 has been having nothing but graphical issues. When the game data is installed on the console it should be a more pleasant experience with less loading times and a smoother resolution, instead what is happening is a severe lack of proper visual quality such as loss of frame-rate and poor textures. Since I only play Skyrim on the Ps3 I have not noticed this personally, how ever a large number of people are reporting the issue so for the mean time it’s probably best to play the larger than life Skyrim directly off of the game disc – as of writing this there has been no notice on the release of a patch to fix the problem. Skyrim is out now on the Ps3 / 360 and the PC, and I’ll be reviewing it very soon.

Modern Warfare 3: first day impression

Another big game gets released and as a first day buy I thought I’d write yet another first impression, again this is not a review as that will come later. Most people seem to gravitate to either BF3 or MW3, it usually ends up in you either love one and hate the other. After playing both all the way through the campaign and through the multiplayer I have to say I do recommend both games but for different reasons – in a nutshell BF3 has the better multiplayer and MW3 has the better single player campaign. Popping on MW3 today I wasn’t at all surprised to see an almost identical start and menu screen to the previous modern warfare title, giving it the benefit of the doubt I went right in and started the campaign.

The game continues right after where MW2 left off, and to be honest I didn’t really like the first few missions because they were trying too hard to shock and awe me with all kinds of over the top scripted events. It’s fine to have one or two in there but having so many in one mission just makes it too unbelievable to think you really could do what was being done on screen, the rest of the campaign does have similar events but they are a bit more believable and for a Call of Duty game that’s saying a lot. The controls handled very well and I saw no real differences between them and what was used in the previous games, even if you aren’t familiar with the game the controls are easy to pick up. The weapons handled pretty well and looked realistic but firing an RPG didn’t feel right, my character barely flinched as it rocketed away.

In past Call of Duty games I never felt too engrossed in the story or in the characters but this time I found I was paying a lot more attention to the characters and really liked how they dealt with the story. While the first few missions are based in the States the next remaining batch are dotted around locations such as London, Somalia, Germany, Paris and Prague, maybe I found it easier to relate to the game because I felt closer to the European cites portrayed in the game than in the States. As for the maps themselves and the overall design I was very impressed, familiar cities of the world looked brilliant and I noticed it was less closed than I expected. Instead of just having to run through a street in a straight line it gave me the choice to cut through buildings or shops, I liked that they put all of that in and it helped keep the game more interesting and certainly less linear.

The multiplayer is the main reason a lot of people will buy MW3 and given its popularity between both casual and hardcore gamers I can see why. I’ll admit that having played the multiplayer online for a few hours I do enjoy BF3’s multiplayer more, it’s simple really MW3’s is more of an arcade shooter laden with perks and bonuses while BF3’s is more gritty and has a more urgent sense of realism to it. There is no shortage of guns and equipment in MW3 online, I started off with a fairly standard pistol and submachine gun and had no problems gunning down players unlucky enough to cross my patch. The perks are all back as are the missile strikes and attack helicopters, I didn’t much care for these in MW2 but it didn’t spoil my most recent experience.

There was a lack of campers and that definitely helped keep me playing, even random running and gunning seemed to be few and far between. The maps were ok but I only played 5 or 6 of them and I’m sure there are still a lot more to see. All in all the online multiplayer hasn’t really changed that much but it’s changed enough to keep fans of the series busy and happy. Spec Ops mode was the main reason I bought the game because I enjoy having the option to play offline in split screen, again this didn’t disappoint. The missions in Spec Ops are fun and there is a new survival more that I enjoyed, it’s early days yet but I’m sure I’ll like the rest of the content Spec Ops have to offer. So the main question would be is Modern Warfare 3 worth the price tag? As a first day buy and as a first impression I’d have to say yes, fans of the series will love it and I’m really looking forward to reviewing it soon.

Rage: game review (ps3/360/pc)

When the makers of the iconic Doom and Quake series set their sights on a modern day shooter they may have set them a little too high because while Rage has its good elements the main problem is it looks too good ..or at least it’s supposed to, the truth is a little more colourful. It’s extremely rare a game will slant my opinion on it in such a short time and I never in million years thought Rage would be the one to do it but my initial response to the game was that of surprise and not in a good way. Rage starts like many shooters in a post-apocalyptic world where you as a survivor must do what you can to make the world a better place, by that I mean shoot and blast your way through the hordes of scavengers and bandits that rule the wastelands with mad max like brutality.

The reason this time for the earth being such a mess is an asteroid has impacted and changed life as we know it, the remaining people who are left over are either organized gangs of bandits and mutants or regular people trying to make a life for themselves, you on the other hand have been secretly stashed away in an underground bunker as a sort of failsafe or last chance for the earth but the life support system has malfunctioned and the rest of your comrades have all died. The world of Rage is brutal and just as you emerge from the bunker you are immediately set upon by wastelander bandits, saved by a stranger you then have to repay him by doing little odd jobs around the area and that to me is the whole game a series of odd jobs that don’t really pertain to the furthering of any cause or even story because while Rage doesn’t lack much on the shooter side it seriously lacks a proper story or sense of progression.

Before Rage was released I keenly followed many stories and articles about how it would play and above all how it would look, many sites and magazines talked about the super textures it would feature making it one of the most advanced and realistic looking games on the market. I’d heard a lot about the textures and did expect a very lush looking and vibrant game, while the character animations do look fantastic and very life like the game itself suffers from the worst popin I have ever seen and probably ever will. The popin I’m referring to is a constant shift of focus and clarity when your character moves or looks from one direction to the next, while most games have a certain amount of popin Rage goes above and beyond the call of duty. The first thing I saw in the game and it looks stunning was the sky ..it would since it unlike the textures is just painted in but once I looked from one corner of the screen to the next it took about five seconds for the graphics to load up properly so all I saw was a blurry patch of ground or wall. While you would expect it’s a temporary thing it really isn’t and lasts the whole way through the game never even letting up for a second, the reason is simple current game consoles can’t handle super textures because the internal readers are not fast enough so naturally Rage suffers – I’d not call it a game breaker but at the same time the popin was so bad I felt the need to quit many times. Soldiering on through the game it took about three hours of playing until I felt immersed enough to making a difference. Given the game had such a huge install file with mind numbingly bad popin it did have some redeeming features so I do think it deserves a review and if like me you do give it a chance you might just like what you find.

So what makes Rage different than other similarly styled shooters, it’s a mixed bag really while it does have the usual fire and forget simplicity there are some interesting things that Rage does better than its rivals. Rage plays like a mix of Borderlands and Fallout, the gaming map is not huge and sadly even if you do find something to explore you really won’t find anything off of the beaten track which is a shame because the game comes across as an open world shooter when really it’s not. You can jump into vehicles made from beat up scrap metal and that will get you around faster but if anything it hammers home the fact that the world is restricted in its size, there are of course some plus sides to being able to use vehicles. Available in the game are a series of races which can be done once you have the appropriate vehicles and mods, that’s right you can modify your vehicles to make them more resistant to damage/faster/and even kit them out with guns and missiles and while all that sounds like fun it can be until you realize the actual races are a piece of cake to complete.

Perhaps the developers were trying to make the racing segments accessible to everyone but what they did was make it much too simple to pose an actual challenge and I would have completed them all if not for the game doing something really annoying which I’m about to address. I can name a few games which close certain aspects or mini games once you reach a certain part of the story but the scale Rage does it is unacceptable. Near the end of the game and without warning games like racing get closed down so you can’t compete in them anymore and if you were after 100% game completion you will have no choice but to replay the whole game again, while that might not sound like a big deal I found plenty of trophies/achievements were unattainable for that very reason. The mini games when playable can actually be a lot of fun, featured is Tombstone (a sort of digital chess with lashings of violence) 5 finger filet (think bishop in Aliens with the knife on the table and you got it) Strum (a miniature version of Guitar Hero) and one of my favourites a card game which relies not only on skill but on you to find and collect the many game cards hidden all over the game. While these mini games can serve as a distraction from the main game the missions themselves are so repetitive and uninspiring that there really isn’t a lot to be distracted from in the first place.

From start to finish the only mission that really stood out for me involved being a contestant in a game show where your very life was at stake, you win cash by staying alive and getting kills but with hordes of mutants trying to stop you it’s not easy. There are of course other missions that show a glimmer of hope but I found the more I tried to enjoy the action the more something else would crop up making me feel like I was accomplishing nothing and if I was no one cared. While there are some interesting characters expertly voiced the story seems to go nowhere and when I did feel a change of pace it turned out the game was over with one of the shortest and most abrupt endings I have ever seen. Even with the extra missions offered from random characters and from notice boards the lifespan of the game is far too short to make a serious ripple compared to other games that offer a similar campaign but more diverse multiplayer, Rage does have a multiplayer but again it’s limited because its mainly all about driving around shooting the competition so don’t expect the usual run and gun deathmatch fiasco because it’s not there.

Like many shooters you will find to progress you need better guns and ammunition and Rage doesn’t let you down here because not only can you acquire all manner of guns you can also build and modify gadgets that can be used to exploit the enemies weakness or simply kill them. By doing jobs you earn money but you also find money on downed enemies or hidden across the game map, the money can then be used to purchase guns/etc but better than guns were some of the various gadgets you can build such as explosive radio controlled cars/gun turrets and little robots that follow you around blasting everything in your way. It’s these little gadgets that make the game different than other shooters but for the traditional shooter fan there are plenty of rifles and machine guns to keep even the most frag happy busy throughout the game – budding robin hoods will also find the crossbow very useful. The bandits and thugs you face do make up a big part of the game and there has been a lot of thought and work put into keeping them rather unique and interesting, the ones that stood out for me were a group of Russians who were obsessed with technology so they had all kinds of traps and weapons at the ready. Something Rage implements well is the reaction of an enemy when wounded or shot, some are very fast and will dodge or jump out of the way when you attack but when you do hit them they stumble or grasp the wound in the way you would expect if it were real life.

Other than the human element you also come across mutants throughout various areas of the map and while most of them only take a few shots there are some that merit the extra special attention that only a whole bag of ammo and a rocket launcher can deliver. I expected the game would have a nice healthy amount of bosses and super enemies that would really bring the game into its own but I counted a very small few and even the ones I did meet were easily defeated in no time at all, I could have sworn I’d seen clips of bosses that were never put into the finished game and given how bad the popin was I’m not surprised. Rage at its core tries to be an excellent game offering a unique experience but the closer I looked the more I saw that held it back from greatness, there is a certain degree of unfinished product that radiates from Rage that probably wouldn’t have been so obvious if the game hadn’t been so hyped up in the first place.

Painfully numbing popin aside Rage does look visually near perfect to anything else on the market, the physics engine works brilliantly and given how demanding the visuals actually are it’s the little things like water and dust that really make your jaw drop. Racing along through the wasteland in a beat up wreak of a car with dust and debris flying is an enjoyable experience, the terrain when properly visible does look astounding and even the cut scenes are beautifully rendered to the point where you forget you are playing a game until of course you step out of the car and start going through the game on foot again and notice the sharpness and clarity popping in and out. The world of Rage is less laid back than it feels, the people who you think you are helping or are helping you have a real knack of lulling you into a false sense of security but once you leave the safe zones you are back in bandit country and they will make your stay there very short if they spot you. The game environments both inside and out are highly detailed and give you a lot to look at, there is a real sense of thoughtful construction in many of the buildings and complexes I just wish I could have viewed them without graphical errors. The main things I liked about the game were the complex character movements/model animation and the ability to upgrade all of your weapons and gadgets. As a traditional shooter Rage works perfectly but it’s not and the developers made no secret of trying to embed a story with added desperation so once you did get into it you expect a lot more especially from the ending, it’s a lot of fun shooting down whatever tries to kill you but garnishing it all with a story that goes nowhere ruins the flow and leaves the player feeling cheated.

I tried very hard to like Rage and as a shooter alone it did satisfy, my biggest advice would be to play the game and ignore what little story is there that way when nothing gets resolved you will feel less cheated. I did however like how the weapons handled and loved how powerful and solid they felt, every impact is reacted to and you can sense the carnage you are dishing out. There is a nice escalation of difficulty between the different enemies and you will find you have to adapt and become creative with combat manoeuvres in order to not get overwhelmed by the attacking forces ahead and around you. Having gadgets and creating gadgets is something that I felt made a big part of the game especially when I got to the last few missions, deploying sentry turrets and bots definitely saved my skin more than once. The rate at which enemies will adapt and avoid your bullets is truly frightening, not only will they duck or leap out of the way they will dart up and across the ceiling scaling their way either to safety or right up next to you ready to pounce with the deadly precision of a king cobra. Car mode in the multiplayer can have its fun moments but I really would have preferred some maps on foot with the possibility of death match or capture the flag, given the developers history with games like Doom and Quake you would not expect that to be too much of a tall order. What they did do however was include a co-op mode which although doesn’t pertain to the actual campaign mode itself it does let two players stand together in a battle to get the most kills, it’s a diversion but not much of one because it gets old quick.

Rage tells me a lot about the developers of the game, they avoid a strong story element and instead opt for a heavy handed shooting experience that while a lot of fun is too brief. The game controls well and the mechanics are solid and feel like they do what you want them to do but I seriously doubt they tested the game and if they did its unacceptable to ship it knowing the popin was so bad , some people suggested it would work if the popin was patched but as part of the games core it can’t be patched without gutting the engine and rebuilding it from scratch. The characters and people you meet along the way are realistic and help give the game a heightened sense of reality but at the end of the day none of them do or say anything too memorable meaning you will forget it all very quickly. It may have won a whole host of awards at shows like E3 but I feel it was unfinished and lacking depth in the story department, you may argue that shooters don’t need stories but you can tell they were trying to implement one at the start and when they reached the middle they just gave up leaving the player unsatisfied and wanting. Rage could have been one of my favourite games of the year but it has too many problems that can’t be fixed with a simple patch so I’m giving Rage a 6 out of 10. I’d not recommend it for retail but it’s definitely worth a rental, think Mad Max mixed with Borderlands ..a side helping of Fallout all served up on a bed of Doomsday and you have Rage.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (ps3/360)

Ace Combat has always had a history of being the crème de la crème of flight fighter sims on the playstation and playstation 2, unfortunately years later the same cannot be said about the latest release in the series. First off Ace Combat Assault Horizon is not a bad game it is actually a lot of fun the only problem is Namco have gone to the trouble of fixing something that really wasn’t broken and what you are left with is a level of unrealistic yet highly accessible fighting and flying. If like me you played many of the older games in the series and thought the newest one would follow much in the same manner then I’m sorry to say that’s not the case, but all is not lost because there is a lot about the game that really makes it stand out among other recent flight sims. It’s easy to assume Namco made all the new changes in order to breathe new life into their highly popular franchise but you can’t help but wonder are the helicopter door gunner and C-130 segments a sign that it’s been influenced too much by games like Modern Warfare and Medal of Honour – both games are good but it’s a dangerous trend to follow that can often result in unimaginative gameplay that screams déjà vu. Though Ace Combat is in some ways guilty of the same influence it does have a trick or two up its sleeves.

The game does have a story and for the most part it’s not too bad but at best it’s predictable, given the aerial action is the centre point the story really isn’t something you will be paying attention to in the first place. In the past Ace Combat games have been exclusive to fighter jets and that worked, while reimagining the game it seems that Namco thought planes alone wasn’t enough. While jets do feature 80% of the time and work very well the added helicopter missions are a lot of fun and it keeps the game interesting when you have to adapt to a new style of flight but it’s nothing that’s not be done before. Anyone who played Apache Air Assault will be very familiar with what Ace Combat has done, the only helicopters available are an Apache and a Russian Hind – they do pack a punch and add a little extra to the game but you can only use them on helicopter specific missions. Also included is a mission where you are a gunner on a chopper and must hit ground targets and soldiers, again its interesting and fun but it’s been done to death by similar games – even the token C130 bombing run is included. It’s a shame the developers thought they had to add all the extra razzle and dazzle to sell it to today’s audience and I can’t help but think if they concentrated only on the jets and planes the game would have been more of a success especially with the fans.

My biggest complaint was that the game didn’t stand up to the realism and expectations that it built up, many past Ace Combat fans are use to a certain learning curve and even with the advanced controls activated it’s still too easy. To really hammer home how easy the flying can be one of the modes known as DFM (dog fighting mode) thrusts the player into a close up battle of break neck speed with explosive results, sounds good right? – Unfortunately no this is another example of fixing something that isn’t broken and here is why. To activate DFM you have to fly up behind the enemy at close enough range, once active your plane gains a sort of phantom autopilot that perfectly guides you through danger leaving you to blanket the enemy aircraft in gun and missile fire. While that may sound like fun the auto pilot is too linear and often sets you off on a scripted flythrough that feels more like a ride at universal studios than an actual dog fight.

Dog fighting mode is probably one of my biggest gripes with the game, you can successfully shoot down aircraft by not getting too close but it seems like it’s geared towards having you dog fight as much as possible. My assumption is they included this new mode to bring the player closer to the action but being that it can become so linear and the auto pilot takes over you never really feel like you are the one in control of the game – it might have looked good on paper but the end result is not pretty. Controlling the planes in the game is easy enough and the learning curve is short enough that in under an hour you can become an ace pilot in both manoeuvres and in combat. I love that the developers have made the game more open to newcomers but at the same time they have dumbed down too much of the controls and even the action, while engaging aircraft in dog fighting mode even if you try to crash into buildings or in my case the ground you just can’t do it and I personally think this kind of scripted event has no place in a flight sim.

It’s not all doom and gloom as Ace Combat is a beautiful looking game with painstakingly brilliant visuals both in the air and on the ground. Each plane in the game is perfectly rendered and the work done truly is exceptional, especially when it comes to the explosions and near perfect bleeding of metal. When firing upon the enemy you will see chunks being ripped from its body until its completely gutted and either bursts into flames or simply breaks apart in a hail of sparks and shrapnel. It’s very satisfying seeing your rounds rip apart the enemy reducing them to pieces but often too many times that means jumping right back into the pre-scripted DFM mode so you often end up back at square one on your round trip of repetitiveness. The game scores very high in the sound department, the planes and weaponry all sound exceptional but the real beauty is in the soundtrack. Ace Combat games have a history of featuring very well made music and Assault Horizon is no exception, it’s certainly a driving point of the action and a huge bonus point that the soundtrack CD came with my version of the game. Being that most of the game is set in Africa a lot of the maps are made up of deserts, there are also snowy mountainsides and very impressive renderings of Dubai and Moscow that definitely merits a mention. Most of the missions are straight forward enough and will either involve you taking down enemy aircraft in the area or targets on the ground such as troops and tanks.

To help you dominate the skies all manner of missiles and bombs can be unlocked for your various aircraft, unfortunately though the upgraded hardware will help it only serves to drain even more of the challenge away from your experience. Since Ace Combat is all about the planes you would expect they put the work in and recreated some real gems. In previous games you had to buy new planes but here you are awarded them after missions, thankfully there are enough to give the game a little more spice and variety. Notable mentions include the F-22A Raptor, Typhoon, F-16C Fighting Falcon, JAS-39C Gripen, Rafale M, AH-64D Apache, Mi-24 hind and my usual favourite the Russian Su-47 Berku. They all look sound and perform brilliantly unfortunately some of the aircraft in the game is mission specific so you can only use them for particular missions that require aircraft of that type and roll. Eventually you unlock a few different paint schemes for your aircraft but the majority of paintworks seem to require buying them as DLC which is a shame because once you finish the game there is not too much incentive to go back and do it all again. When you do complete a mission you are given the option to go back and play it through online co-op with a friend, and if that’s still not sociable enough there is always the multiplayer with its addictive domination and death match modes.

Assault Horizon is really a bag of mixed tricks, on the one hand the game is very accessible to casual gamers and newcomers but to the hardcore fans it’s slightly insulting to the point that you will forget you are even playing an Ace Combat game. Games like Gran Turismo have successfully revamped what they stand for and what they do but it seems that somewhere along the way Ace Combat got not only lost but confused. The comparisons to missions in Modern Warfare and similar shooters are too in your face to just brush them under the rug and forget about them. The game mechanics work when you are in-flight but once autopilot kicks in and steals the action the realism grinds to a halt. I really wanted to like this game and in some ways I still do but after playing through it and completing everything the game had to offer I’d have to recommend it for rental only.

It seems many developers are setting a dangerous new precedence which involves revamping a series to what they think is a near perfect representation of their chosen field, realistically what they end up doing is gutting it then dressing the remains in fancy ribbons that fall off once you give it a serious test run. To add insult to injury the rinse and repeat element to Ace Combat is such that for the entire game just relying on lock on missiles will get you through mostly in one piece. There are too many things wrong with the game to make it a top class combat flight sim, I’d liked to have given it a higher score but it proves too much how a perfectly good franchise can be ruined by reinventing its ins and outs. I’m giving Ace Combat: Assault Horizon a 6 out of 10 – this is one ride that’s not worth the purchase price but as a rental it will definitely pass the time.

Battlefield 3: day one on the frontline

This is not a review for Bf3 so don’t expect my usual high polished professionalism and attention to detail (really don’t), there will of course be a review soon enough – this is simply a brief description of what I experienced on my first day playing one of the most anticipated games of all time. Firstly I heard a lot of negative remarks about the single player campaign so I honestly didn’t expect a lot right there ..wrong. the campaign is actually very good and does tend to draw you in very quickly. The first few missions were kind of mediocre but after about an hour into the campaign it got very fast paced and very involved. The visuals in the campaign were absolutely stunning, the lighting and smoke effects were jaw dropping.

A perfect example was one of the levels set at night where I could see enemy flashlights ahead piercing through the smoke and darkness, it was hard to snap to action when the visuals demanded so much attention. The friendly AI is for the most part pretty good and they don’t seem to hog the spotlight too much leaving you with nothing to shoot. the enemy AI can be quite brutal at times but I find many shooters to be brutal until you learn the basics. The missions did seem a little linear with a lot of scripted events but it was never enough to make me complain. In short the single player campaign is not half as bad as some reviewers have previously stated, linear or not its a whole lot of fun packed full of heart pounding moments and fire fights.

Ok onto the multiplayer, the reason why many people will get the game in the first place. Guns and lots of guns! there is no shortage of weaponry in BF3, anything I used from rifles to handguns all looked and sounded very authentic with a lot of upgrades to unlock. The first time I tried the online I got blown to bits after about one minute, I quickly respawned and jumped back in to see what would happen next. Looking around the main staging area I was treated to having the option of jumping into a jet / tank and even a little jeep, naturally my curiosity got the best of me so I climbed right into the pilot seat of the first thing I saw with wings. Staying in the air was not an easy task, I stayed airborne for a minute or two but inevitably lost control and crashed into the ground. The controls for aircraft are straightforward enough but keeping them in the air is a whole other story, this was to be expected and I’m glad they didn’t simplify it for the sake of reaching a bigger audience – if you do screw up you can always parachute to safety.

Anything on wheels was easy to drive and I found tanks especially were fast and strong enough to push forward without too much flack. The maps for the game were absolutely brilliant with so many buildings and areas that the possibilities for strategic combat were pretty much limitless. I found the first few times I played with random people it was much harder to gain any ground or get kills, when I joined a match with some friends that all changed. Given the maps are so large you can of course go and do your own thing lone wolf style but if you want to last longer sticking to your squad and working as a team is the way to go. Like I said this is just a brief  summary of my first play and though brief I’d already recommend it as the best shooter I have ever played – full review coming soon.

Dark Souls: game review (ps3/360)

Demon’s Souls was on its arrival quickly tagged as an insanely difficult game, for that reason it both drew players to it but also kept many away. Now a few years later comes the following title in the series, but this time regardless of the high difficulty level gamers are finding it nearly impossible to stay away. Dark Souls is not just more of the same unforgivably hard dungeon crawling it’s a refreshing breath of innovative strategy and brutally punishing death that will satisfy even the most hardcore Demon’s Souls fan for a long time to come. For those of us who stuck with Demon’s Souls to the bitter end there was a tremendous sense of achievement that no other game could replicate. Dark Souls is no exception, it’s equally rewarding and equally hard. If you are up to the challenge and ready for the fight of your life then read ahead.. and prepare to die.

You start the game by building your own custom character, much like Demon’s Souls you are given a choice of classes such as knight / cleric / wanderer / thief / bandit and pyromancer. Each class determines your ability and overall power at using particular weapons and magic spells, as well as your various strengths and weaknesses. It’s a good idea to read through the stats first and judge the character you want but even if it doesn’t go right the first time there is always the opportunity to customize your abilities by levelling up. Oddly enough there is a new class in Dark Souls known only as deprived, you start off without armour and proper weapons instead you have a plank and must build yourself up with any equipment you happen to find – it’s a perfect example of the games unique styling when it comes to putting together a real challenge.

As for the story itself initially it’s rather bare, all you know is you have awoken in an old decrypted asylum and things are about to get a hell of a lot worse. Though you won’t be following a story as such there are tips scrawled into the floor and a very short but to the point tutorial that teaches you the basics of combat and survival. If you take the time to read the tips and master everything from blocking to parrying you will survive a lot longer in your quest, longer but not forever. Dark Souls is all about learning from past mistakes to conquer the next pitfall, that pitfall could be anything from a squad of heavily armed undead knights to a gargantuan demon hell-bent on pummelling you into the ground. Thankfully the combat in the game works exceptionally well so each player is given a fighting chance, constantly pressing the attack button won’t get you far ..if anything it will get you killed even faster. Combat in the game whether it be with mindless foot soldiers of hulking bosses depends on you knowing how to fight, learning to block effectively and with the right shield is paramount to defeating your foe. If you fail to learn an enemies attack patterns or they are strong enough to break through your defences while your stamina is low the result will most definitely be messy. The good thing is most of the enemies are easy to read so getting fatal blows in can easily be dished out in an even flow, not only that but the enemies always respawn in the same locations making it even easier to plan and execute your attacks more precisely.

To help you dispatch the many legions of demons there are all manner of weapons and magic spells available, if that’s not enough armour too can be found all over the game world making it that little bit harder for the forces of darkness to annihilate you. Wandering through Dark Souls you won’t just find swords spears and bows, you will find many magically enhanced weapons that when coupled with the right skills and stats will provide you with invaluable killing tools. Demon’s Souls had so many weapons and sets of armour that in order to use them all you would have to play through the game numerous times, many people did and again in Dark Souls the tradition continues. Since dying is common place and you will die over and over again many people start the game all over again with a different class, I originally started as the thief class then switched to the knight it’s all part of the learning process.

Dark Souls never lets up or apologizes for its unrelenting abuse of the senses, but there are ways to even the odds. When you kill an enemy in the game you are rewarded souls, it can start off low and you have to take out area bosses to gain enough to make a substantial amount but by farming locations you will soon be on your way to going up a level. The catch of course is if you die while carrying your unused souls you will lose them all, they can be gained back if you find the place where you died and touch your bloodstain ..die on the way and they are lost forever. You can also find the slightly more rewarding souls of knights/heroes and warriors on some bodies but its rare so you have to keep your eyes peeled when you are exploring a new area or you could miss them. Souls can also be used as currency to buy weapons/upgrades/spells/armour and so on, just like the weapons and other items in the game there is no shortage of vendors willing to trade their wares for your precious souls. Vendors can be found all across the gaming world and there does seem to be a lot more of them than in the previous game, depending on your current status the items and materials they sell can come in very useful. You could always decide to just concentrate on getting all of your weapons and items off corpses on the battlefield but it’s always worth checking a vendors wares because you never know what they might be selling. Weapons and armour can be upgraded by visiting one of the many blacksmiths you will find, initially they will only make light improvements but once you start finding the right stones and materials more powerful weapons with magic properties can be made.

This time around instead of visiting the nexus and finding herbs to regenerate health you visit bonfires that when lit serve as resting points, while rested you can fill up your health flask and upgrade your skills by spending souls. Be warned that once you rest at a bonfire all of the non boss enemies in the game will automatically respawn, this might sound unfair but it’s a plus because you can keep killing the same enemies over and over again to collect up even more souls. Eventually by progressing through the game and buying certain items from blacksmiths you will be able to do all manner of things from bonfires such as upgrade your weapons and store everything in a bottomless box, given that you pick up so many weapons and armour sets while playing the box soon becomes invaluable.

It’s not always a lonely road in Dark Souls, just like before there is a complex co-op mode that allows players to drop in and out of your game. In most games co-op comprises of a friend helping you out in those tricky moments where the odds really are stacked up against you and though that’s true about Dark Souls it also allows for more sinister opportunities. Playing the game online means you can and will interact with others playing the game, some will leave messages on the ground offering strategy on what’s around the next corner / some will leave summoning signs for you to activate thus drawing them into your world to help you slay the next demon / and some more deviant will use the opportunity to invade your world and kill you so they can steal your souls. The same system was paramount to Demon’s Souls online experience only this time the emphasis is on helping others rather than terrorizing them, by implementing a system where you can report the invading player the game actually punishes wrong doers and makes for a more interesting gaming experience.

Making your way through the gaming world is much more fluid than I expected, from the very start you are given the option to just start exploring not only at your own pace but also in the direction you choose. One thing I really liked was opening connecting areas by unlocking sealed doors or gates that I previously hadn’t got the keys for, the world of Dark Souls can be vast and dangerous so opening doors and activating elevators is something that really shouldn’t be avoided. As for the levels themselves quite a few do remind me of their counterparts in Demon’s Souls, Blighttown for instance is a lot like The Valley of Defilement but its different enough to feel fresh and unseen. The levels are expertly constructed and contain lots of secret rooms and pitfalls that will test you at every turn. Each part of the world has its own specific look and feel, Blighttown is dark and toxic, Undead Burg is a lot like the first area in Demon’s Souls surrounded by high castle walls and crumbling battlements, the Darkrook Gardens are lush and green but contain deadly secrets all of their own, there really are so many painstakingly detailed areas to explore that I can’t possibly talk about them all.

The detail and graphics really are highlighted in every step of the way, each area has a certain glimmer of authenticity that integrates itself seamlessly into the vast environments you can and will explore. There is a seriously accurate atmosphere to Dark Souls, the threat of defeat and pulverizing death around each corner really radiates from your surroundings and makes you feel that little bit more on edge. The sound effects are nicely done and really don’t seem too different than they were in Demon’s Souls, but then why fix something if it’s not broken. The music does play a bigger part this time and the score is exceptionally well written fitting the game perfectly, though at times it will seem as if there is no score present it manages to sneak up on you right as your combat situation escalates.

The enemies in the game are the second star of the show and command a serious presence around every corner. At first you will tackle mindless undead who are for the most part a pushover, as the game progresses the legions of demons and undead escalate in difficulty to the point where you are up against a serious challenge. Just as the first game had a whole host of infernal demon’s guarding the passages to the next area so too does Dark Souls, and they won’t let you pass without a fight. For the most part it did feel like the bosses were a little easier than those of Demon’s Souls, because not only could I summon up help online I could also summon up the help of offline characters I met by joining special covenants. That said even with the extra help some bosses can be quite the handful and can do more than their fair share or damage to your character. There is a catch in summoning help, since your character is undead you must find and use humanity sprites to restore your human self and interact with other players willing to help you slay an undefeated boss or minor demon.

Humanity is an interesting enough concept that seems to work, it also restores your health so it can be used as an alternative method to staying alive a little bit longer when your flask has run empty. The undead and demons in the game don’t just do physical damage with slashes of swords and spears, some have the ability to curse you which can be devastating if you don’t have the proper tools to reverse it. When cursed you lose a substantial amount of your health and stamina bar and you won’t get them back until you find and take the cure, the first time this happened to me I felt cheated but it helped harden my skills for survival and there was a tremendous sense of accomplishment when I finally had the curse lifted. It’s these little moments of fear and progression that really propel Dark Souls above and beyond the realms of all other games, they are all victories in their own right as everything you work towards is for a reason and it all serves to toughen you up for even more hell raising encounters.

To really grasp the Dark Souls experience you have to play the game with the proper skill and respect it deserves, if you come to it expecting a simple hack and slash romp then the chances are you won’t last very long. Each enemy requires you to learn an attack pattern so you can dispatch them with enough skill that they can’t in turn drain your health or kill you, this takes time effort and above all else strategy. If you go about playing the game properly you will find progression comes much quicker and death comes more sparingly, you can’t escape death because it’s a core element of the learning process and needs to be experienced to toughen you up. The controls for the game are solid and extremely responsive, fans of the previous game will be happy to know what your character has a few new moves such as jumping and plunge attacks that give the combat a more balanced approach.

All that aside there were a few times where I felt the game was tipping the scales too high against me, one particular time involved two armoured archers on either side who had direct line of sight and were able to hit me every time making me plummet to the ground below. It didn’t matter what my skill level was nor what my characters class was the only way across was to not get hit and then take out one of the archers, there was no room to really navigate and the ledge was about a foot wide – it took over 10 tries to finally roll forward across the ledge dodging incoming fire and then dealing with an archer. I knew to expect a serious fight when I started the game because I had played Demon’s Souls long before Dark Souls was announced, but the archer section was a case of the game using a cheap trick to push the difficulty level up another notch and though examples like that are few and far between a lot of players will find those moments unacceptable.

In certain areas of the game you may find the camera can get you killed as you manoeuvre your way through the darkness only to find you are now on your way either off a cliff or into an enemies ambush, though it’s rare that this will happen when it does it can be very frustrating especially if you were carrying a lot of unused souls. Ironically enough the same area where the camera can be tricky is the only area I ever noticed any substantial drop in frame rate and it all was over so quickly it didn’t impact my fun. Those are the only negative points I ever noticed about the game and they are minor in comparison to the epic scale of what Dark Souls has to offer, every little detail is perfectly suited and expertly executed. This is not the kind of game that overloads you in story and lore, instead it distances you from other characters keeping you on a constant battle of survival and strategy.

The difficulty level is continuously adjusting itself so as soon as you beat one enemy you start to encounter more that force you to fight even harder and with more skill, to make things even harder if you die in an area the enemies fight even harder and are more brutal than ever – unfair? That’s just how the game plays out. Its clear Dark Souls aims itself at a specific type of gamer and if you don’t fit the bill you might not last very long, it’s immersive and deeply overpowering with enough lifespan to satisfy even the most hardcore gamer. Demon’s Souls was and still is only available as an exclusive to the ps3 so many 360 gamers could only rely on their expectations and not have the raw power of the original to compare it to, having played both I can say that all of my expectations were more than met in every possible way. It’s not rocket science what the game does but it manages to effortlessly exhaust and drain your senses without skipping a beat, in short it’s a serious dose of psychological warfare that is more than worth the ticket price. I loved every minute of Dark Souls, it rarely frustrated yet managed to keep me motivated enough every time to keep pressing on even when I was getting annihilated by creatures three times taller than me.

It’s rare I give a game serious top marks because realistically they all have some flaws here and there, Dark Souls is quite the opposite it doesn’t apologize for the extreme difficulty but it does reward you for persisting even when the odds are stacked against you. I’m giving the game a well deserved 10 out of 10, the minor issues that I experienced were minimal enough to not result in any hampering of game play. If you liked Demon’s Souls then you will lose your mind when you play its brutal predecessor, if on the other hand you haven’t and are up for a serious challenge then Dark Souls just might be the game for you.

Prepared to Die: a first play of Dark Souls

Though I review lots of games there are very few I blog about before actually reviewing them, Demon’s Souls was the exception and now Dark Souls follows in those footsteps. I will be writing up a full detailed review of Dark Souls in the near future, until then here is a brief rundown on my first few days of gameplay.

Bonfires serve as checkpoints and a place to rest.

Having had to wait a few extra days for the European release I was really excited to play, and it sure did meet all my expectations and more. After waking up in an old gothic asylum I quickly got to my feet and started exploring, with a broken sword in hand (that’s all they gave me) I carefully ventured through the place but soon met some demons. As you would imagine they were low level demons that were easy to slay, going further still I soon encountered my first boss.

Earlier bosses can put up one hell of a fight

Compared to the first boss in Demon’s Souls it was rather easy to kill and soon I found myself being carried off by a giant bird to an even more expansive world. Straight away the game started to really show that there were many different routes to take so I took the opportunity to explore as many places as possible, naturally the different areas have different enemies with low to high health power so attacking some early on was suicide.

The undead army are worthy foe

The key to really staying alive and pushing through to the next area is to scavenge the best weapons and armour you can find but in Dark Souls that was easier said than done so I spent a lot of time just farming until I’d reach a good enough level to take on the next big task or foe. Unlike Demon’s Souls there was no nexus instead I had to find and light bonfire, when lit they save your progress and give you flasks of health. The online worked well and when I got stuck I easily summoned up another player to help me vanquish a really tough demon, thankfully I wasn’t invaded by a black phantom.

Building an efficient character through upgrades is essential

So almost 3 days in and I have to say I love the game, it’s VERY unforgiving and it makes no excuses about its insistence to punish you for not being strong enough to survive. So far I have defeated quite a few demon bosses and put together a good strong knight character equipped with some very damaging weapons but I still have a ways to go so a full review won’t be posted for another while.

FROM SOFTWARE in join development with SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT JAPAN STUDIO (SCE Japan Studio).
directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FROM SOFTWARE and Produced by Takeshi Kaji from SCE Japan Studio. Music composed by Shunsuke Kida.

The Dark Sacrament: book review

As an avid reader and collector of occult and paranormal books I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read this powerful book that is based very close to home. Demonic possession is something that shot to light when the movie The Exorcist stunned and shocked audiences all over the world, what followed was a spate of reported cases involving people supposedly possessed or influenced by invisible forces and demons. Regardless of what your view may be when it comes to the existence of these powerful forces and entities The Dark Sacrament will both educate and terrify. Essentially many of the cases in the book lead back to the oppression and possessions coming into being because of the intervention of stronger spiritual forces, the Ouija board in particular is no stranger to the spotlight.

While many of the accounts painstakingly presented in the book can be quite similar the real similarity they feature is the ability to shake your very foundations as to the existence of evil. Each account is expertly researched and transfers to paper perfectly in a way that will keep you coming back for more. While I read vast collections of similar styled books this is the first and only book that has ever actually made me question my own beliefs, the authors really did their homework and it shows at every turn of the page. Truly this is a book aimed at adults only because it deals with some very deep and important issues, while other books have attempted to do the same none have come this close.

The stories themselves are all recounts of the actual individuals who went through their trials and tribulations in the island of Ireland, it’s indeed a unique look into an otherwise unseen world. Though Ireland in the past was known to be in the firm grip of the Catholic Church The Dark Sacrament points to the cases where ordinary everyday people regardless of their belief systems were instead gripped by demonic power. Perhaps one of the most frightening factors detailed was that children too can be just as susceptible to the forces of darkness, and that they don’t always welcome the idea of ridding their demonic oppressors. One of the most memorable stories involved a young boy finding an Ouija board on his way home from school, treated to a magic trick like no other the boys life is soon turned upside down. The demon whom he contacts influences the boys life to the point where he becomes possessed under complete control of the entity, at a loose end his parents contact the local parish priest who in turn recommends an exorcist.

This is where the book really shines, not only are the stories recounted by the individuals themselves but also by the priests and exorcists who had to deal with the darkness they faced. I was very impressed by unravelling process of information held between the pages, though I’m very educated in the ritual of exorcism and the history behind it the authors offer up notes in the final pages that really shine light on everything you ever wanted to know about the subject. While the individuals themselves have had their details changed in order to hide their identities I was amazed to see that one particular person did not, Canon Wm. Lendrum. It was a testament to the man himself that he did not mind being publically identified as one of the main figures people turn to when they are faced with a demonic force. It’s the people like Wm. Lendrum that really make the book special, while you would expect the book to be preachy it does not put any emphasis on what you the reader should believe instead it gives you the facts and lets you make your own mind up. What I really liked was how the authors don’t just tell the stories they actually explain the possibly reasons behind the occurrences and in doing that help others prevent such happenings tainting their own lives.

After studying the occult and paranormal for many years I have come to the conclusion that many people don’t see the dangers in such things as Ouija boards and other means of spirit communication, while it can be done safely it can take a lot of time do it right. What many of the cases in The Dark Sacrament had in common was the obvious lack of education when it comes to such devices, though alcohol abuse and other forms of self abuse can open doors for demonic forces and negative energy the book itself may indeed serve as a way to prevent further escalation of cases.

Exorcism has always been a touchy subject in many countries but none such so as in modern Ireland, thankfully The Dark Sacrament tackles the subject perfectly without ever offending or pushing your own beliefs aside and every page turn is an edge of your seat experience. I recommend the book as a must read, whether you do or don’t believe in the existence of evil you will absolutely love the book – the only problem I found was it was nigh on impossible to put down! – The Dark Sacrament is available from all good bookstores such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Author David M. Keily was interviewed by Jim Harold on the Paranormal Podcast some time back, for fans of the book it to is not to be missed and offers a rather insightful and personal look into the both the creation and research that went into The Dark Sacrament.

Review Score: 10-10