Review! Fire Emblem: Awakening

System: Nintendo 3DS (exclusively)
How far did you get:  Completed the campaign, did most of the side missions, and some of the DLC

The Fire Emblem series is known for it's intense difficulty.  Strategy RPGs are generally pretty tough anyway, but the Fire Emblem games had something other games did not.  If one of your characters die, they are dead forever.  Considering these games have always come out on Nintendo systems, it's odd to think that they are one of the most hardcore games around.

Fire Emblem: Awakening took a different approach.  While you can still play this game in the same manner as the older Fire Emblem titles, you now have the option to play in "casual" mode, where your characters are only gone for the battle they are defeated in, and not permanently.   Fans of the previous games may gawk at this, but it's entirely optional and gives newer players a way to enjoy the game without getting too frustrated.  Most veterans to the series understand that if you lose a character, you're supposed to reset the game and be more careful, but novices won't know to do that.

There is a downside to casual mode, though.  You learn to play better when you reset your game to make sure your people don't die, and you won't get as skilled at the game by playing in casual mode.  This can be problematic if you want to play some of the higher level side quests and DLC, as they are legitimately challenging for all players and if you're not up to snuff, you're probably going to die a lot.

The game is easily the best presented Fire Emblem game yet.  The battle sequences are absolutely awesome to watch, and you'll see a ton of them.  Each character has their own unique appearance and voice.  Some of the battle shouts and victory boasts are genuinely funny and give you a better understanding of the characters.  The menus are all easy to use and navigating them is quick and snappy.  It also gives you a lot of control over what you want to sit through and what you don't.  All dialog can be skipped (though I wouldn't recommend it) and you can fast forward battle animations if you're in a hurry or just tired of seeing them.  You can also pause them, which is a fantastic addition as in the older games, I often found myself needing to do something in real life during an enemies turn and had no way to pause the game.

When it comes to the gameplay, very little has changed, which should excite most Fire Emblem fans.  It's not much different than any other strategy RPG, but there's something about it that hooked me more than other games in the genre.  I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's incredibly hard to put down.  It still has the weapon triangle and flyers are still weak to wind and arrows, which is where most of the real strategy comes in.  I did notice a few balancing issues, though.  Fredrick, my Great Knight, was my strongest character for about half the game.  I continued leveling him and toward the end of the game, he was noticeably weaker than most of my characters.  My trickster (think thief with heal magic) could barely damage anything at the end of the game, despite the fact that I had leveled her more than most of my other characters.

The game has some interesting wireless features.  I was fond of the bonus box, which allowed you to grab some good weapons for no cost.  Sometimes the game would get updates and you would get new items in the bonus box.  You also earn renown by leveling your characters and getting new ones, and you can use your renown points to buy bonuses.  There's a support option that allows you to watch a scene between 2 of your characters, which increases their relationship level.  These were usually really funny to watch.  There's also a barracks option which lets you watch your characters walk around the barracks.  Sometimes they would talk to each other, sometimes they would find items, and sometimes they would have an epiphany and gain experience or weapon levels.  The conversations during these were usually stock quotes and not really worth reading, but the bonuses were usually nice.

Most of the DLC is designed for higher level players, but 2 of them stuck out to me.  There's one that's designed to help you level up, and one that is designed to land you a whole lot of gold.  I used these a lot, but I felt like I was cheating by using them.  I found a majority of the game to be quite easy because I was able to quickly power level and buy pretty much anything I wanted.  They're pretty much a necessity to do post game DLC and the endgame side quests, but personally I don't think they should have been there for players still early in the game.

Fire Emblem: Awakening doesn't do a whole lot of new things, but it improved pretty much every aspect of core gameplay and gave us the best Fire Emblem story to date.  If you own a 3DS, this game really should be in your game collection.

Rating:  90/100

Review! Halo 4 Campaign

System:  Xbox 360 (exclusively)
How far did you get:  One completion

Note:  Another campaign only review.  Still not paying for Xbox Live.

After my incredibly disappointing romp through Halo 3's campaign, I certainly wasn't expecting much out of Halo 4.  If it weren't for the fact that Bungie didn't make it, I probably wouldn't have bothered playing it at all.  As it turns out, handing the Halo franchise to 343 Industries was the right move.

First and foremost, Halo 4 is a very nice looking game.  This is coming from a guy with a pretty nice gaming rig for PC games.  It's not the best looking console game of the generation, but it probably lands a spot in the top 10.  There's a nice variety of scenery, which is a big improvement over Halo 3.  The game runs very smooth and it gets all of it's loading done before you start missions.

The controls are a lot tighter this time around, as well.  Using the right analog stick to move your reticule around doesn't feel super loose like it did in it's prequel.  It's still not as tight as many other modern first person shooters, but it was serviceable.  

Halo 4 tells a much better tale than Halo 3.  It's told in a way that makes sense the entire time, and it's pretty fun to follow as well.  I think it's kind of weird how attached Master Chief is to his AI, but to each his own I guess.  Cortana is an interesting character and watching her deteriorate as the story goes is pretty heartbreaking, even if she is just an AI.  

Easily the biggest improvement Halo 4 has made is that strategy becomes important in the firefights.  Unlike many first person shooters, you can't just pick your favorite weapon and blast your way through everything.  Certain weapons are more effective against certain enemies, and if you choose the wrong one, it could be disastrous.  The enemy AI is quite good most of the time.  Some of the enemies are meant to be dumb, but the ones that aren't are a legitimate challenge, and a swarm of dumb enemies in tandem with some smarter ones can really keep you on your toes.   

343 Industries didn't fix every problem with Halo, however.  The floaty jumping mechanics are still there and they still suck.  The enemies still take a ridiculous amount of shots to take down, and it's still difficult to tell if you're hitting your enemies or not, particularly if you're using an automatic weapon.  Some of the alien guns are still completely useless, and usually they're the most abundant. There isn't much variety in the enemy types.  There's 2 races you fight in the game, but each only has about 5 different baddies. 

Halo 4 is a game that is fun despite itself.  Thanks to a really good story, nice visuals and improved strategic combat, the games flaws are far easier to overlook.  As long as Halo remains in the hands of 343 Industries, I'm willing to give Halo another a shot.

Rating: 74/100

Review! StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm campaign

System:  PC (exclusively)
How far did you get:  One campaign completion

Note:  Campaign only review.  More a time constraint, really.  It takes a really long time to get good enough at this game to play the multiplayer. 

StarCraft 2 was a surprisingly worthy follow up to the highly acclaimed RTS game StarCraft.  We were told from the start that two expansions would be in the works.  Where the main game focused on the Terrans, Heart of the Swarm concentrated on the Swarm (and the next, the Protoss).

Playing as Kerrigan and her swarm is an absolute blast.  Personally, I prefer the Swarm to the Terrans.  Sure, you don't have guns, tanks, or flying ships, but the Swarm's equivalent of these things are super cool.  Playing as the swarm is a lot more chaotic than playing as Terrans.  Though you will occasionally have to strategically place particular units in certain places to gain an advantage as you did with the Terrans, you'll more often than not find yourself in a position where numbers matter.  For the Swarm, the more the merrier.

Something that sets this expansion apart is that for most of the missions, you actually get to control Kerrigan.  In fact, you even get to level her up separately from the rest of the Swarm.  At any point in the game, Kerrigan is easily the most powerful unit you'll use, and it's fun to do so.  Leveling up your other Swarm units is done in a unique fashion from what you might be used to in the main game.  You do small missions where your units will evolve to best take on a particular situation.  You'll do two of these for each unit, and choose which one you think would be most beneficial.  It's helpful that it actually let's you use these improved units before choosing which you'd like to use.

The story is a tad corny, as it was in the main game, but it's a bit darker this time around.  It's to be expected, as the Swarm are naturally loathed across the universe and have a tendency to wipe the population from entire planets.  Impressively, when you play as the Swarm, that doesn't change.  Kerrigan will still send her brood mothers to wipe entire planets for resources, and even though she's regained some of her humanity, it doesn't seem to phase her a bit.  For most of the game, it really does feel like you're playing as the bad guys.

If you enjoyed the main game, there's no reason you should pass up on Heart of the Swarm.  It's a bit pricey, but it took me several nights to finish the campaign and there is a pretty significant multiplayer mode if you're into that sort of thing.  It's gameplay isn't incredibly different from the main game, but as an expansion and not an entirely new game, it does add enough flavor to be worth the plunge.  

Rating:  87/100

Review! Halo 3 campaign

System:  Xbox 360 (exclusively)
How far did you get:  One completion

Note:  I'm only reviewing the campaign due to the fact that I don't have Xbox Live and I'm NOT going to pay for a month of it just to review the multiplayer in this game.  Sorry.  Also, there are spoilers in this review.  It's an old game, get over it. 

You may be wondering why I'm reviewing Halo 3 in 2013.  Until now, I had never played a Halo campaign to completion.  I was going to start with Halo 4, but I decided to try to get caught up with the story a little before I gave Halo 4 a shot.  Boy oh boy, was that mistake.  The campaign in this game is terrible.

Let's start with how it looks.  Halo 3 has not aged well at all.  I'm sure it wasn't designed to be played on a 46 inch 120hz 1080p HD television, but I feel like the stats on my television only amplified how bad it looks.  This game came out after Bioshock did, and it looks miles worse.  Occasionally, the loading screens would stop you for several seconds, not letting you pass.  I don't know if this just shows how far developers have learned these consoles, but time has not been a friend to Halo 3.

The story is confounding.  I had no idea what was going on, why I was where I was, or how I got there for more than half the game.  Towards the end, things started making a bit more sense, but I wasn't particularly glad it was.  Halo 3 is campy in the worst way.  There are scenes where it will show Master Chief and make a horn noise, like "tada, here he is!"  He dies in the end.  Some badass he was. 

One of things a lot of Halo fans like to say is that Halo is so much better than Call of Duty, because it's sci fi and different.  I have news for you.  Halo 3 is Call of Duty in space.  It's exactly the same kind of game.  It's a squad based shooter, just like Call of Duty.  Most of the game, you run around listening to military guys shouting orders at each other.  Does that sound familiar?  To beat all, the story is Halo is harder to follow and the combat isn't as tight.  You can tout that stupid floaty jumping mechanic all you want, it sucks.

The enemies in Halo 3 take far too many shots to take down, and it's never apparent when you're actually hitting your enemy.  They make no type of animation to give you any hint they're actually being hurt, except maybe a small blood splatter.  In some parts of the game, you're fighting a swarm type enemy, and you're actually supposed to run through and not try to kill all of them.  At least, I presume that was the case.  The game didn't tell me that was what I was supposed to do, but there were far more of them than I was going to be able to handle.

I would say the campaign was far too short at just over 4 hours, but I couldn't have been happier to be done with it.  After my main character died and I watched the least emotional ending I've ever seen in a video game, I'm not even sure I want to even attempt Halo 4.  The only reason I'm going to is because another developer made it.  I can't believe people bought an Xbox 360 to play this game.

Rating:  40/100

Review! Bioshock Infinite

System:  PC (also available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3)
How far did you get:  1 rather thorough playthrough (11 hours)

Anyone who considers themselves to be a gamer is most likely familiar with Bioshock.  It's often lauded as the best game of our console generation, and even someone who thinks it might be another game will at least understand that Bioshock is at least an incredibly strong competitor.  It took first person shooters in a very different direction than had ever been seen before.  A few years after it's release, it did receive a sequel, but it's mostly agreed that we'll all forget that ever happened.

Fortunately for all of us, Irrational Games took the past 4 years to make the new Bioshock game, Bioshock Infinite.  It's very clear that the developers put everything they had into this game, and gamers will likely be arguing for years to come whether this game is better than the first Bioshock.

The most important thing to note about Bioshock Infinite is that it succeeds with excess in everything it does.  Only two things bothered me about the game.  The first is that I had to download and install a beta driver in order to keep it from making my entire computer crash.  Secondly, the default mouse control settings are a bit too sensitive, which is easily remedied in the options menu.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about how awesome this game is.

After nabbing the beta drivers required to get this game to actually work, I was able to crank the game up to ultra settings.  I pity console gamers.  On ultra settings, this game is mind blowing to look at.  The Bioshock games have a very animated look to them, so if you're looking for something that's incredibly realistic looking, this isn't your game.  Don't let that stop you from picking it up to see how  amazing it looks, though.  It's stunning, through and through.  It's immensely colorful and everything that ought to be animated, is.  Everything from Elizabeth's facial expressions to the sheer depth of the cloud city of Columbia is a full of beauty and imagination.

With a little tweaking, the controls are also incredibly tight.  I rarely found myself in that infamous position where I'm yelling "I didn't press that!" or "Why didn't you do what I pressed!"  Jump controls feel just right, and being able to hotkey your powers on the PC version is quite helpful.

As is to be expected with one of Irrational Games' projects, the story is truly something to behold.  It's one of those stories that helps legitimize the games industry in comparison with the film industry and helps you understand why a movie only costs 20 dollars and you're paying 60 for your game.  It's in depth, masterful, and could only be told in a video game.  You play as Booker Dewiit, a man with a long, storied, and rather unpleasant past.  He has a debt to be paid off, and he needs to get Elizabeth in order to pay it.  He never seems quite sure what the debt is he needs to pay, nor who it is that is requesting it of him.  To his surprise, he is launched into the unknown city in the sky, Columbia.  There you'll be looking for Elizabeth, finding her, and trying to get her out of the city.

Bioshock Infinite has very dark undertones.  In order to even enter the city, you must be baptized in the name of The Prophet, also known as Zachery Hale Comstock.  The entire city sees him as a leader and savior, and it's all kind of creepy.  In addition. the inhabitants are nearly all white.  Blacks and Irish are used as slave labor.  It handles these touchy subjects with a nice blend of vigor and restraint.  It reminds me a bit of the Wizard of Oz.  It's a beautiful place to look at, but not all is at it seems.

So the most important question remains:  is it fun?  Bioshock Infinite may be the most fun I've had playing video games since Mass Effect 2, at least.  The best part of it is just how perfectly paced the gameplay is.  The action sequences are all insanely frantic, and you're given plenty to search and look for in your downtime.  For a game that is not open world, there is a lot of space for you to roam around in.  People are having their own conversations, adding to feeling that this could be a real place.  There are useful things lying around everywhere, from food and drinks to increase your health and "salts," to ammo and gear you can equip.  I especially liked the audio recordings and telescopes you could use to get a better look at some of Columbia's more gorgeous settings.

The action gameplay gives you several different ways to approach each fight.  You're only allowed to carry 2 guns at a time, but I feel this was done to help utilize the idea that you have other ways to fight.  You use "vigors" as powers, and they are awesome to look at, fun to use, and actually helpful.  I became quite fond of the shock vigor, which allowed you to stun your enemies and do pretty much whatever you liked to them (I preferred using my melee weapon).  Speaking of that, your melee weapon is this strange hook/wrench hybrid that can do some pretty brutal things if you decide to finish your opponents with it.  Actually, I highly recommend doing it whenever possible.  The reactions you get out of Elizabeth are hilarious.

In addition to all the crazy things you can do in battle, you have Elizabeth.  She isn't your typical video game heroine.  When you rescue her, the game actually tells you that you do not need to protect Elizabeth, because she can handle herself.  She not only handles herself, she's a wonderful asset in battle.  When you first get her, she helps you by throwing you whatever you may need.  In battle, she'll throw you health, salts, or ammo.  Sometimes she'll even throw you a weapon that may be useful in that particular situation.  Outside of battle, she randomly throws you money.  She's also responsible for bringing you back when you run out of health, which is an interesting way of explaining how you don't actually die when you...die.  Later in the game, she opens rifts into other worlds, which can help you pop in a turret gun or some cover into your world.  

Bioshock Infinite is one of those rare cases where not only is everything that makes the game come together done fantastically, but it more than lives up to expectations.  It's also one of the few campaign only first person shooters you'll actually want to play again.  I know I will.  

Rating:  96/100

Review! Mass Effect 3: Citadel

System:  PC (also available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3)
How far did you get:  Hard to explain, but I did all the story missions and the party, as well as many other things. 

Mass Effect 3 is unfortunately known for it's rather confusing and unsatisfying ending.  People aren't wrong about this.  The ending sucked.  They patched it later and changed it a bit, but all it did was make the terrible decisions make more sense.  The game itself, however, is quite good.  In fact, if the ending was better, it would easily be the best game in the trilogy.  All we had to look forward to at that point was DLC.  After the mostly mediocre Leviathan and Omega DLC packs, I fear many people may have given up on Mass Effect 3.  Hopefully, they'll be willing to give it one more chance. 

Mass Effect 3: Citadel is the third and final DLC pack for Mass Effect 3, and boy did they ever go all out on this one.  Every Mass Effect play style is here.  Everyone from the Mass Effect trilogy that is still alive is here in some shape or form.  Everything that made the Mass Effect trilogy so amazing is here.

Despite the fact that there is a little bit of everything here, the main focus of this DLC is the character interaction.  If you started playing Mass Effect at Mass Effect 3, you'll probably still get some laughs out of this, but this wasn't really made for you.  This is for Mass Effect veterans, through and through.  Every time you turn around, someone is making an inside joke, and it's nearly always hilarious.  Even in dire situations, no one seems to be taking it seriously, and though that may sound bad, it's enough to put a smile on the face of even the most bitter Mass Effect fan.

The gameplay is really great, as well.  There's a mission where all you get is a pistol, an espionage mission, and a mission where you get to take back the Normandy from the enemy.  I won't spoil who the bad guy is, but it's a nice twist.  The enemies are noticeably tougher than the normal fare, and the last boss fight feels like the true final boss fight in the game.

It's important to note a few things about this DLC.  First of all, it can only be done after *SPOILERS* Cerberus attacks the Citadel. *SPOILERS*  Also, it's a good idea to play right up until you've unlocked everyone, so they can be a part of the missions and festivities.  It doesn't hurt to play on a file where Wrex is still alive, either.  

Mass Effect 3: Citadel is the true ending to the trilogy that we all wanted to begin with, even though it doesn't actually happen at the end.  You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll hope you never again drink enough to wake up in bed with a Prothean.

Rating:  90/100  

Review!: The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Dragonborn

System:  PC (also available on Xbox 360 and (GET THIS!) Playstation 3)
How far did you get:  I finished the main story and did a handful of side missions

Considering the high praise this DLC pack received upon it's release on the Xbox 360, I had pretty high hopes for this thing.  After playing the mediocre Dawnguard and the mostly dumb Hearthfire, I shouldn't have, and now that's I've played Dragonborn I wish I hadn't got my hopes up. 

This DLC starts off a bit different than the others.  You get attacked by some cultists when you go to a town in Skyrim, and one of them has an assassination order in his pocket.  You take a boat from Windhelm to Solstheim, an island that belong to Morrowind.  Then you go on your quest to find out who tried to kill you. 

The island seems pretty big at first.  The town you land in gives you plenty to do at the start, but once you start traveling the land, you begin to realize it's actually quite small.  The terrain isn't anything you haven't already seen, either.  Riversides, swampy areas, and snowy mountains are exactly the sorts of areas you've dealt with already in Skyrim.  Indoors areas are almost entirely caves.  However, things do get somewhat interesting when you open the Black Books.  It takes you to some wacky poison vine land where everything is hazy and nothing makes sense.  While these areas were very interesting to look at, the gameplay felt a bit stunted in these areas.  There weren't many enemies there, and the ones that were there were repeated throughout every trip. 

Dragonborn has a way of tricking you into thinking it's going to be better than it is.  I kept hearing about the Skaal in the first town.  When I finally met them, they were basically a nicer, coat wearing version of the Forsworn.  None of the quests there were entertaining at all.  In fact, the only part of Dragonborn I really enjoyed was running around with a wizard with a bad attitude.  The main game had many more characters that were far more interesting. 

The perks are something I can't fully talk about.  You do get a new kind of stone to make armor out of, but my smithing wasn't leveled up enough to use it.  You do get a shout that lets you control and ride dragons, but don't get excited.  They go where ever they want and you can't fully control them.  There were some nice weapons to pick up on my journey through Solstheim, but nothing that blew my mind. 

I'd say there is definitely 20 dollars worth of content here, but that doesn't mean the content is good.  When I get downloadable content, I generally like to see something a little different added to the main game, and Dragonborn does not offer that.  In fact, I'd say Dawnguard offered a more unique experience than Dragonborn did.  If you're a Skyrim fanatic, you're probably not going to pass on this, but prepare to be disappointed.

Rating:  58/100