It's time for us to announce the winner!

You guys have been awesome, retweeting, following out blog and chatting on our Facebook page. Now, it's time for us to announce the winner of our competition to win a copy of Skyrim.

The winner is James Wright - a massive congratulations to him! Thank you to everyone who took part, and I hope to see you all again for our next competition which will be revealed very soon - watch this space! James, please contact us at titusvalhalla@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Tomorrow's blog post is on Skyrim, so do be sure to visit our blog for the beginning of Valhalla's great journey (it will be updated as he gets through the game).

Thank you to everyone for participating, we hope to see you soon.

Valhalla and Titus Proxima

Games Based on Movies

Okay, hear me out guys.

So there are these two totally awesome dudes, the so very strong and very just Valhalla and the amazingly wise Titus Proxima. Together they embark on a journey of discovery and trial. 3 times weekly they must provide their loyal followers with witty, banter filled adventures that they have and/or plan to embark on! On this particular day the wise Titus had this totally awesome idea to tell them the story of tasks they were set that they felt had been done before and so were disappointed in, and this is how that story went...(I’m not sure what this is but go with the flow)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend

Yeah I know, don’t judge. I was a cool kid, ok? Plus... you can’t tell me she isn’t a little bit hot. Right?

So, I don’t know if you saw the movie (only like a zillion times) but the game is NOTHING like it (when is it ever).

The game starts with a bang (literally) as a plane with Lara and her mum are in crashes and they are the only two survivors. They find themselves in a tomb with a sword which Lara’s mum pulls out of a stone and she disappears (kind of like a weird take on Excalibur).

Bolivia: Back in real time Lara travels to Bolivia where there is a stone dais that her friend Anaya mentioned. Along the way she encounters mercenaries and wild animals that try to kill her. Upon reaching the dais she meets Rutland who holds a strange piece of sword, mentions a dead friend and then sets his mercenaries on her, but she’s Lara croft so no problem.

So from here Lara goes through a series of countries including Peru, Japan, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Great Britain and Nepal (she gets around a lot), finds out some awful truths, spares some lives and ends with a plan for the future.

So yeah it’s like pretty much every other movie game out there (I really want to use some big words here like infantile and menial that will impress but I think that that ruins the whole colloquial thing we have going on).

As much as I want to say ‘yeah, totally loved it 10/10’ I really can’t. Honestly there are few perks except a little Angelina Jolie and some nice gun action it’s really quite poor, even the graphics are weak. So GGGG(4/10) is the best I can give.

Bleach: The shattered blade

On Wii! Yes, I play this game on the Wii. Should I be ashamed? Some say so, but I would disagree. The Wii is generally seen as a family console, and whilst this is mostly true, it doesn’t mean you can’t play anything other than family based games on it. Anyway, I play Bleach: The shattered blade on Wii and I’m going to tell you a little bit about it.

The game is based shortly after (anime series spoiler) Ichigo rescues Rukia from her execution at Sōkyoku Hill. Now an accepted soul reaper (shinigami), he is able to help defend soul society from their newly formed enemy – the Espada/arrancar. The power that Ichigo used at Sōkyoku Hill was so great that it broke the seal that imprisoned an arrancar named Arturo Plateado. He is a highly dangerous, self-made arrancar that attempted to destroy the whole of soul society, but was captured and then sealed beneath the city. Now that he had been released, it is his goal to seek revenge. He is able to take on the form of any member of soul society, whether it is squad captains, vice captains or other team members. It is your goal to stop and defeat Arturo before it’s too late.

You can play as loads of different characters in this game, and I’ve completed it on nearly every single one. It’s actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Each character begins the game with different reasoning, but they all end the same way – confronting Arturo. As every character has different skills and varying forms and powers with their zanpaktou the game becomes more interesting. I wish they had been able to include Hisagi’s bankai. It rocks. It really does.

Multiplayer is pretty repetitive. You and a friend can battle characters (either the same character or different ones) in different ‘arenas’ and through that determine a winner. It’s simple and there isn’t much to it. Just a bit of mindless fun you might say.

The controls are simple to use and get the hang of. It requires the Wii remote and the nun chuck to play. The individual buttons on each remote release special moves such as the bankai form or various spells.

Compared to the anime/manga...

So, this is Arturo. You look...familiar.

Here’s the thing that really bugs me. This new arrancar, Arturo, looks almost exactly like Grimmjow with the slightly longer hair/bone remains on his face. I wonder why they couldn’t just design a different arrancar that didn’t bear such a heavy resemblance to one that already exists. It’s so irritating when the character seems to lack any form of creativity and the creators feel as though they have re-use a former character template.

Of course, it’s not part of the anime

All the characters are pretty good at remaining in the same mind set as they would if they were in the anime series and so I can say that everything in this game was pretty well done when comparing it to the original series.

In conclusion...

The storyline is lacking, and it gets a bit samey after a while. The clear lack of creativity when it comes to the actual main antagonist is rather appalling if not disappointing. If you’re looking for a mindless game that requires little skill and concentration then I would highly recommend this one to you. If you want something action packed and filled with variety and twists in the plot then this really, really is not the game you’re looking for.

Kids will love it, so will those who just don’t feel like thinking for a night (we’ve all been there). However, for its poor development, gameplay and lack of creativity I reward it a mere 5/10. Sorry, Bleach , you disappointed me

As a side note, readers, please don't forget that tomorrow the winner of a copy of Skyrim will be announced! Watch this space, it's coming quickly. 

Come, young Barbarian

Yesterday, I embarked on an epic adventure. I began my journey following the footsteps of the great Barbarian himself. Being a fan of the stories, the Marvel comic book series and the old films with Arnold Schwarzenegger (the best Conan, in my opinion) I was eager to start on my long and blood-filled path.

It took two days to download due to my terrible internet speed (people, as most of you may know, AOL sucks), which was painful to say the least. In that time I was unable to play any other MMORPG’s and so my time was dedicated to either watching the download bar or reading beside it. Yes, I’m that sad people. Anyhow, it downloaded eventually.

Creating my first character

I was not willing to pay around £10 a month for this when something like WoW is only £8.99 a month and so opted for the free-to-play. Yeah, what a wide variety of choice I received. I was allowed to be one of two classes out of the 12 that were available to me as I was playing for free. These classes were Guardian and Barbarian. They were pretty much the same in terms of battle type except that the Guardian was able to wear plat and the Barbarian cloth. Having not played a character that wears plate in some time I chose a Guardian and went on to design my character’s look and choose his race.

Something went wrong here...

I was able to choose from three races and opted for the strong and mighty Cimmerian. After that, I was able to go into more intricate design, selecting muscle size, width, height, eye colour, hair style and colour etc. It was really rather elaborate. I was even able to select different body markings and war paint for my new Guardian. I made my character as tall as he could be, with maximum muscle and markings that mean he’s a strong leader. He looks pretty awesome, actually. I then named him Trankin.

Entering the world

When I made my character I was on a ship, rowing with a bunch of other slaves (for I was one as well). Then, my ship was destroyed and I was thrown overboard and into the sea, becoming bound to that location (I assume it’s kind of like your ‘home’ location) as I sank towards the bottom of the sea. Next thing I knew I was awake on a sandy beach and a strange man came and talked to me, telling me that I had to go to the city. I missed most of what happened in that scene as I was distracted by my dog. Despite missing the cinematic scene I was able to figure out how everything worked and set about killing some Picts using the keys 1, 2 and 3 to attack (took me ages to make attacking work). It was relatively easy to kill the tribesmen and I was relatively pleased with my progress. Looking at my minimap I was able to see that the red arrow was leading me to my destination.

It was as I was making my way through the jungle behind the beach that I came across a woman who had been tied to wooden poles. I initiated conversation. The thing I LOVE about this game is that you have a selection of responses to the people that you meet in your adventures. I could be rude or polite to the woman, but as I assumed that I would need her I was kind and caring towards her. She asked me to help her by killing one of the Pict leaders and looting the key that would free her from her chains. I did as she asked, being a compassionate Guardian. It was pretty easy, and I returned to her with hardly a scratch. After releasing her she accompanied me to the city, screaming and cheering every time we encountered an enemy – something I found amusing. We travelled through the jungle, slaying Picts, looting their corpses and exploring our surroundings. It was then that we reached my old slave master, a vile, fat thug. Yeah, I took him down warrior style and left him to die in his own filth. That man disgusts me. Anyway, the gate that led to the city had been right behind him, but it turned out that to get through it I had to slay a demon that was guarding the key. So, with my wench following behind me I slaughtered some more Picts and annihilated the demon that stood in my path with great skill, even my little wench agreed. Once the key was in my hand we made our way back to the gate where we unlocked and opened it.

Fat Oaf...

Beyond the gate were hordes of Gorillas which I fought my way through with my little wench trotting behind, cheering at my epicness. Once we were through that part of the jungle we reached the outskirts of the city and travelled through another, unlocked, gate after which she left me and returned to the city. I was all alone (at this point you should feel sympathy towards me). I followed the path towards the city until I came to the tall stone walls that showed I was there. Outside, was a guard and I was quick to ask him for access to the city. Noticing I was a slave, he refused me access but informed me of a blacksmith I could visit to cut off my chains. I was quick to find him.

Random inserts of me slaying stuff in a kick ass way

The blacksmith asked me to collect some stone blocks for him before he removed my chains and I did as I was asked. He rewarded me with the removal of my bonds and after thanking him went on my way and returned to the guard who let me in pretending not to know me. Before I entered he asked me to deliver a letter to a woman in the Thirsty Dog, which I did. I delivered the letter, chatted to some women and then realized that I was supposed to seek a woman named Nadini. I asked where she was, and was told to travel there at night so that the evil city guards did not spot me. I was careful to do as I was told and waited until nightfall. Nadini was easy enough to find, and she informed me that I should seek training from the keeper at the Thirsty Dog. Thanking her, I returned to the inn and talked to the keeper who told me that he would train me as a warrior once more (apparently I was a warrior who lost my memory. Should not have missed the intro). However, I had to do a quest as payment and so my journey continued as I followed in the footsteps of the great Barbarian himself...

This game is pretty cool. Graphics are a little under average and the fact that free-to-play is so limited really sucks and takes away from the gameplay. It’s too expensive in my opinion, and I’m not willing to pay more than WoW for the game. However, the ability to choose your characters reactions is a brilliant feature and one that I quite enjoy. It’s a game that I will continue playing and update you guys on.

Overall rating from me, Valhalla – 6/10 for the cost and poor graphics.

Sadly Titus was sick tonight and unable to help with the post. Poor Titus. L

Two days to go, two days 'till MW3!

Apologies for how late this post it (it should have been up yesterday), my internet failed, my phone died and I couldn’t get hold of Titus to tell him so. However, it’s here now and packed full of interesting information regarding Modern Warfare 3 which is only two days away from release (I’m trying to get a shift at work for the midnight release). According to people I’ve spoken to and what I’ve read online it looks like MW3 and Skyrim are the two front runners for Game of the Year so far. The COD games have always been popular amongst gamers, and they’re saying that this one is going to be better than all the ones before it (I promise you that when I play this game I’m going to give you guys an extensive and detailed review).

What’s the basic storyline? 

Well, as I haven’t played the game yet (I totally plan to) I can’t give you an extensive plotline, but I can tell you the basics (as found on the internet).

The Russian Federation continues its invasion of the USA (as was occurring at the end of COD: MW2). Not only this, but they have also expanded their offensive of Europe. Other parts of the world, such as India have also been targeted and it’s up to you to do what’s right in order to save the world from the destruction that the Russian Federation plan to bring...

There isn't much to the plot really. There are tasks for you to complete in between, but this is the essence of the game. 

Multiplayer

As with pretty much every game there is a multiplayer mode, and MW3’s has apparently got better.

The killstreak system has been completely revamped. Killstreaks have become pointstreaks and you don’t just have to kill in order to earn them. Completing set objectives, such as planting bombs and capturing flags, will increase the points you receive. The pointstreak rewards are organised into three different ‘strike packages’ named Assault, Support and Specialist.

Assault strike package: works the same as the killstreak reward system in MW2 and Black Ops and offers rewards such as the predator drone and helicopters.

Support strike package: rewards are things like UAV’s and SAM Turrets. These rewards do not reset when the player dies, but accumulate over the course of the match.

Specialist strike package: the reward is being given perks of your choice after every second consecutive kill. After eight kills you receive every perk in the game (score!) but if you die you’ll be resurrected with none. Make sure you don’t die.

You can choose which pointstreak reward you want to use when you gain it during a match rather than choose between rounds.

New game modes (yay!)

So, they’ve added a few new modes to MW3, and I think we should take a little look.

Kill Confirmed: Collect floating dogtags from corpses before the kill can be registered. Don’t forget, the enemy is doing the same thing!

Team Defender: Cap the flag. A classic game of capturing the flag from a fallen soldier and attempting to keep hold of it until the end of the match.

Infection: The infected kills enemies to recruit to their team

Drop Zone: Hold the drop zone for points and care packages from enemies.

Team Juggernaut: Play alongside an AI juggernaut character

Gun Game: Be the first to get a kill with every gun in the game

One in The Chamber: You have one pistol and one bullet. The only way to gain ammo is by killing enemy players. You have three lives – no more.

You can also create your own game modes with player limitations and time limits. Sounds like fun, no?

Maps

We found a great website for the multiplayer maps and feel that we should give you the link that leads directly to them rather than post them here as it's obvious they worked hard to get all of that information. Follow this link to get a good look at the MW3 Maps. 

Extras 

I bet you are desperate to know what extra’s you get. I warn you, some perks from previous games no longer exist on this game such as Commando and OMA. These are just a few of the extras.

So, I will give you the name and tier, its effect and then its pro-effect.

Sleight of hand - Tier 1 – Fast Reloading – Fast Weapons change

Recon – Tier 1 - Explosive damage, target is on mini-map – Bullet damage, target is on mini-map

Blind eye – Tier 1 – Air support and sentries are undetectable - Fast lock-on for rockets. Increased bullet damage to vehicles.

Extreme conditioning – tier 1 – Increased sprint time – Climbing speed increased

Scavenger – Tier 1 – Get ammo from dead enemies – get more ammo

Quickdraw – Tier 2 – faster aiming – faster recovery from using grenades and equipment.

Blast shield – Tier 2 – increased explosive resistance – resistance to flashbangs and stuns

Hardline – killstreaks are 1 kill easier – two assists count as killstreaks. Deathstreaks are 1 death easier.

Assassin – Tier 2 – immunity to UAV portable radar, thermal and heartbeat – immunity to CUAV and EMP, no red crosshair or name over you.

Overkill – Tier 2 – carry two primary weapons – second primary weapon can have two attachments

Marksman – Tier 3 – longer range target identification – hold your breath longer when sniping

Stalker – tier 3 – increased movement speed while aiming with sites – add delay to enemy claymore before exploding

SitRep -  Detect enemy explosives and Tac Insert – Opposing team’s footsteps are easier to hear

Steady aim – Tier 3 – increased accuracy whilst firing from hip – weapon ready more quickly after sprint

Dead silence – Tier 3 – quieter movement, recon does not work as well against you – do not take any fall damage

Hopefully, this has been of some help to you when you’re looking at what is included in MW3. To be honest, it looks really good, and I think it’s going to do well. It’s so on my list of games to buy...and review. We still owe you guys a Rage review, working on that one. 

Talking about lists, check out the pages on the top navbar of our blog (the very top) for the bloggers we like best and the list of games/consoles/other gaming equipment we totally want.

Want to pre-order/buy MW3? Have a look at these links – they’re really good prices.

Modern Warfare 3 Amazon

Modern Warfare 3 Game

Modern Warfare 3 Play.com

Age of Empires...online?

Yes, we know it's been out for a while now, but why blog about something when you haven't had a good play on it? Experience is everything. So, tonight we thought we'd treat you with a little post about Age of Empires Online, something that a lot of people seem to have been looking forward to. Titus, a veteran player of the original Age of Empires games decided to do a little post on his experience with the game and what he thinks of it. Then, the online game emerges. 

Age of Empires: Titus' Tale

Along side Runescape, Age of Empires was a game I grew up with. When you were as into mythology as much as I was and you had a family of mostly boys you really got into the whole army thing, so having legions and heroes and castles that were fully under your control was awesome. I must have spent forever on the game just preparing to destroy the next town and expand my Empire. The graphics were never particularly amazing but the concepts and the heroes were enough to enthral my impressionable 10 year old mind.

When Age of Mythology came out I was beside myself with excitement, I had the power to destroy at will, I had suddenly become a god to the people I cherished.

Sadly for players my age, it's not as exciting, It still holds many hours of my childhood memories and it is something I will never stop loving but at this age I want something with more adventure, something that I can become personal with, a game in which I am someone.

As much as I adore this game, as far as modern games go this scores low for me becasue there is not much that can be added to a game like this. There are no improvements that can be made because they went to hard to fast at the beginning and now there is nothing. For this I award this game a low GGGGG (5/10 gamer points)

Age of Empires Online

Last month, Titus and I bought PC Gamer as a little treat (along with far too many Marvel action figures) and were both pleased and surprised to find Age of Empires Online. I say surprised, but I believe Titus nearly killed himself with sheer excitement. As soon as I got home I made sure to download it, eager to get started with the fantastic new game. Titus told me Age of Empires was a lot like Heroes of Might and Magic, so that made me even more excited about what I was soon to experience. A world of Greeks, Persians and Egyptians; what could be better?

It took a while for the patch notes to download (I say a while, what I mean is HOURS), but once it was done I was eager to begin. I logged in with my Windows Gamer Tag (noob buster 300 for those interested), and chose my first civilisation. Being a nut for Classics, I chose Greek and named my new city Andros (realm: Alexandria). It felt like the loading screen was going on for hours; I was literally shaking with excitement over the matter. I arrived at my new city to find it looking rather bare, and to see an old man with a big exclamation mark over his head. Being experienced with games such as WoW I figured this meant he had a quest for me – I was right. First quest was easy enough, and after that he continued to give me little missions, and so did the other members of my tiny little city. I even gained a level, which was rather pleasing.

My first quest in my city, Andros

The City and Villages

A majority of quests take place in your minor villages and other cities. The key building in your village is your Village Hall as it acts as the storehouse for your villagers supplies (until you build a storehouse) as well as the main target of any enemies. If you lose your Village Hall to the enemy, you fail the quest/battle. Your Village Hall does have some defence and will attack any enemies that attempt to destroy your village, so if you run out of soldiers your Village Hall acts as a decent defence. As your level increases your villagers are able to build new things and different buildings become available to you. Things like farms and watchtowers become buildable objects and through that you’ll be able to provide extra food and further sight (so you get rid of all the black).

Your city starts off as being rather small, but as you gain levels and new blueprints (see blueprints section below) you’re able to expand your city by adding new and exciting buildings. The other important feature of your city is that a majority of your quests come from the people who live there.

The main non-playable cities can also give you quests. Places like Mycenae will give you quests to complete for them whereas cities such as Sparta hold PvP tournaments for you to attend.

I heard you mention something about getting rid of the black...

If anyone has ever played Heroes of Might and Magic then you will instantly know what I mean about the black. Basically, there is a small area of the map that you can see, all around that area is covered in black. In order to lift the darkness you can move your soldiers/ships towards it so that not only will the black vanish but you will also be able to see the rest of the land you’re questing on.

Quests

The quests take place in little village areas or colonies, and can be built up in each quest (except the timed ones, you don’t always have time for building there). It’s actually quite fun training the villagers, getting them to harvest the essential gold, food and lumber to train more villagers/soldiers. You also have the option to build docks for fishing boats, merchant ships and triremes. The timed quests are a little harder to do alone; especially if you don’t have any friends to help you out or the premium army that is available for purchase from the Windows store (I’m trying to justify spending money on it with my limited funds). The quest rewards can include XP points, money, items, armour/weapons and blueprints. There’s an interesting item – what are blueprints?

Destroying the enemy (red) and burning their houses for a quest.

Blueprints

Blueprints are used to fashion new buildings in your city. These buildings can vary from things like blueprint stores (it’s obvious what this is for) to archery and cavalry buildings for training purposes. They’re very useful in the expansion of your city and can also be used to build things like rows of hedges and statues. Basically, anything that requires building work will require blueprints. You can even find them in the treasure chests that often appear in quests.

Ages: Improving your city

AoE Online uses Ages as a means of levelling abilities as well as tech points (a lot like the talent trees in WoW). There are five (citation needed) Ages that can be achieved by the player, and each Age provides further skills for armies, villagers and production. The tech points do the same and you can choose which trees you add points to each time your city levels up (construction, military etc). Currently, my city is still on the Bronze Age and is rather weak as a result. My tech points are spread relatively evenly between each branch of the tech ‘tree’ and so I am gradually improving skills in each part.

PvP: Your worst enemy

In games like World of Warcraft, PvP is a match between certain numbers of players who are of an equal level range. This is a fair way to fight and the battles are equally matched. In AoE Online, it’s a very different story indeed.

I had a quest to visit Sparta (Oh yes!) so that I could do battle against another player. I figured this was pretty groovy and decided to make my way over and get battling. Sparta was a good looking place – you could see all the young soldiers training which I quite liked.  I found the PvP arena pretty quickly and started up a 1v1 battle and waited patiently for an opponent. I was level six, my opponent level forty. I was only on the Bronze Age (Ages will be explained); he was on the Silver Age. I had a crappy bunch of spearmen; he had archers, hoplites, premium soldiers, and cavalry – the lot. So, naturally, I lost this battle. That’s about the only rubbish thing with PvP; your enemy is often a completely different level to you. Fine when the tables are turned and you can obliterate some hopeless low level (no, I’m not that cruel.../cough), but when you’re the victim of the enemies power you just want to give up.

One of my PvP battles. I lost, of course.

So, how does PvP work on AoE Online?

Well, it’s quite simple really. You start off with a village hall and five or so villagers. The aim is to destroy the opposing player’s village hall. You start out with nothing but your villagers, a block of minable gold, some bushes for food and a load of trees. Get the villagers to work, make sure they collect supplies. Then, you’ve got to ensure that you evolve your village to the Bronze Age for increased power and build some barracks, archers halls, cavalry places...you know what I mean (of course, I only had spearmen). Once your army has been well and truly enlarged you can either wait for the attack or trek off and find the enemy village so that you can burn it and raze it to the ground (insert maniacal laughter). You can use your mounted scout to search for the enemy, but he doesn’t have a great deal of HP, so use him wisely.

Soldiers

Oh, Valhalla is a simple fool. What did he do, you ask? Well, he didn’t read carefully and ended up destroying his army. Here’s the thing. In your city you have a palace which carries your ‘tech points’ and that tech tree (as I so named it) has three branches. Now, I only saw the Economy branch and my eyes seem to have missed the military and utility branches. I thought the branches of the tree were what was shown to me on the first page of the palace. Thanks to that, my army is pathetic and I can’t complete the required quests as a result. To add salt to the wound I just spent £14.99 on the premium Greek pack thinking it would give me a great army; only to learn that is has in fact not given me what I hoped it would and all I needed was to correctly place my tech points. So far, this premium civilisation has given me no joy, but who knows, perhaps one day it will come in handy. For nearly £15 I received four special characters that do my city some good and a set of powerful armour for my soldiers. Yes...well worth the money (sarcasm).

As a result, I can’t really give you any in depth detail on the soldiers as I have not yet experienced it firsthand.

Scratch that. As I was typing this I found a reset button. I have reset all my tech points and can focus mainly on my army as opposed to my economy (which is still important but I’m a battling man).

So, after changing my tech points around I was quick to complete a quest that had been giving me trouble for some time. As I’m only on the Bronze Age I only have three units, but I can tell you a little about each one.

Spearmen: Basic infantry, pretty weak but they do the job.

Hypaspist: Infantry unit, pretty strong and durable. They can go against pretty much anyone. Brute force can get them past most enemies.

Toxotes: Ranged unit. These archers can deal a heck of a lot of damage from a long distance. They are very useful guys to have when defending yourself.  

Sarissophori: Cavalry. These guys are a form of ranged cavalry that do a pretty good job of taking down archers.

Ships

So far, I have Triremes, merchant ships and fishing boats. These are built at the docks and serve their own purposes. The Merhant ships are used for transproting goods, people or soldiers across bodies of water. The fishing boats are required to gather fish from the waters (to build an army etc), and the Trireme can be seen in action below.

Formation!

My Trireme's destroying an enemy Trireme

So, there’s the basic info on AoE Online. Of course, I have to say that this game is highly addictive and I am finding it hard to balance time spent on WoW, LOTRO and AoE Online. As all MMORPG’s are ever evolving and new stuff is always occurring either personally or globally, I don’t see why I can’t keep you updated on what happens in AoE Online as well as the other MMORPG’s that Titus and I play.

This game reminds me a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic ad Master of Olympus: Zeus (one of the BEST games ever), and so I’m going to have to give this one a good score, a big score...an 8/10. It’s missing points because of the PvP. I was really annoyed about that. 

Breaking News In The Gaming World!

Here's a mini update for you guys. Thanks to a tip I received from a very good and awesome source, it has come to my attention that the trailer for Grand Theft Auto V has been released today. You want to watch it? Take a look below, it's right there. I found this trailer on Gamespot, so I am in no way taking credit for the release of this video. Please enjoy it anyway!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJBaWILMzYU&feature=player_embedded

I'm sorry I couldn't directly insert the video, the insert video option for Blogger didn't show this video when I tried to upload from YouTube. It looks fantastic though, so I would recommend watching it. It's gonna be a rush.
Rumour has it that Tommy Vercetti will be returning for this game and it has to be said that the narrator sounds a lot like Ray Leotta.

My source also told me something else that I found to be interesting and I just had to check it out. He told me that Apple would be next in the world of gaming, that they were going to do something big, and so I did a little research. Sadly, it didn't get me very far and I didn't get much information. I came across rumours of a new XBOX and Wii, the PS4 and various other contraptions that aren't likely to ever exist. The only Apple related thing I found was an iBox, which I do believe is a spoof. You can take a look at the video below.

Can you believe it, it doesn't even need a controller.

So, that's it for the mini update. Thank you to my mysterious source for the updates and I hope you guys enjoyed it. As a final question - what do you guys think about an Apple console? You think they'll make one or is that just a rumour being spread to make people excited?

Dead Space

A third person shooter survival game, Dead Space was developed by EA Games for PC, PS3 and XBOX. So far, there are two games in the series (the third of which is yet to be released), and since the release of the first Dead Space game in 2008, its popularity has only risen. Battling against a virus that transforms humans into grotesque and horrifying monsters known as Necromorphs, it's up to you to save the world and what remains of the human race.

Dead Space


Don't deny it, you want to shoot some Aliens! Who wouldn't with the hype Americans make over them, crop circles and anything they can possibly relate to the humanoid beings that have stumbled upon our decaying planet and have landed on it in the hope that they will find the chance to conquer it and take it back to their alien over-lord a a gift! (Try saying that in one breath, I dare you)


The USG Ishimuru's communiation with earth is cut off as the ship encounters an alien object!
Isaak Clarke, an engineer, arrives to repair the damage done and finds the ship, a hollow, lifeless, blood covered pit infected by aliens and totally devoid of human life.
The engineer becomes a survivor, tasked with returning the object to it's planet.

Gameplay


One of the first things you notice about Dead Space is the fact that is has a totally different UI to other games. Instead of player information being along the edges of the screens, things like the health bar and ammunition count are built into the weapons and armour, saving space. It actually looks rather good. if you wish to check the maps and other features, you just use one of the various holograms that float around your character.


In order to kill Necromorphs you must remove all of their limbs as you shoot them, thus introducing a new form of combat. Just shooting an enemy in the head won't finish him in this game. 


As your character is an engineer, a majority of his tools and weapons are made from old parts like saws and flamethrowers. This certainly adds a sense of realism to the game, in my opinion as the tools and weapons used are more realistic due to the fact that you built a lot of them yourself using your engineering skills. 


From what I've seen and read, the controls are easy enough to understand and the graphics used in this game are more than half decent. Certainly one to pick up if you don't already own it (like me). 

Dead Space 2


Isaaks back (I think that has a nice ring to it) but it's not just about surviving this time.
He awakes froma a coma (I really wanted to make a dead joke here) in an alien city called 'The Sprawl' (you can imagine the positive energy all over this place)!
He is the sole survivor of an alien infestation and the government want him. On top of that he's having nightmares about is dead girlfriend (I can only imagine).
He will do anything to live and him and his arsenal put the ace in space (I couldn't resist, you can punish me for it later).


Gameplay


Released in January of this year, the gameplay for Dead Space 2 is almost exactly the same as its predecessor. The UI is the same as before as well as combat and the character you play as. However, this title has multiplayer, something its ancestor did not possess. 

Differences to Dead Space


There are FIVE difficulty levels in this game. They are: Casual, Normal, Survivalist, Zealot and Hardcore. Each level is more difficult than the last, with Hardcore as the most extreme. Unlocked after completing the game, you can only play from a fresh start, are allowed no more than three saves and will struggle to find ammunition, food and other vital supplies. The monsters are relentless and it is a seriously hard level to complete. Anyone who has finished this level...I salute you. 




Multiplayer


Two teams of four, one human, one Necromorph. The human's goal is to try and complete the given task whilst the Necromorphs attempt to stop them from finishing. Each player has two weapons and as you progress through multiplayer new weapons and abilities will be unlocked for both sides. It could be a long and relentless battle if you have two very good teams pitted against each other. Being able to play as both the good guy and the bad guy is an added bonus to the experience of multiplayer mode.

Dead Space 3


I bet your thinking 'Jeeze, how long can one guy survive an alien invasion on his own (...without a towel...Douglas Adams fans, that was or your benefit)!
So now I suppose you'll want me to tell you all about it!!
You'll just have to wait like rest of us, or go and get hired for the production.




Dead Space is a popular game that has received high ratings from pretty much every critic out there. Thank you to Watcher (Michael) for voting this game as our next post and we hope you enjoyed it. Below is a little Dead Space 2 video.