Dead Rising 2 ..viva Fortune City

Zombies are everywhere these days from movies to games they have infested our cities our pubs and even.. Vegas, that's right its the sequel of the 2006 zombie smashing hacking and slashing hit Dead Rising.

The first game had you running around a shopping mall taking out zombies but giving you the option to save survivor's which in return netted you bonus points. this time around its pretty much the same deal except the story plays a more important part in your gaming experience and its much more open ended with almost double the lifespan.

You take on the role of chuck greene a former motocross star who is forced to enter a game show with a difference in order to buy the medication he desperately needs for his daughter. that game show is TIR - terror is reality, and the main aim of the game is to kill more zombies than the other contestants, simple enough really until the zombies escape and overrun the city tearing apart everything and everyone they come into contact with. so now with 3 days until the military arrive chuck has no choice but to fight it out until help arrives – there is of course the small matter of his daughters medication too.

So surviving the 3 days really is all up to the player, you have pretty much an open world to explore and game through which is similar to the original game but being set in Vegas its bigger and much more vibrant. crazy is a word i have used to describe this game many times and within the first 5mins of gameplay you will see why. chuck has at his disposal an almost limitless amount of weapons and props to use against the undead, these range from simple golf clubs and antique blades to pretty much anything you want or can find laying around. going to a hunting store will net you sniper rifles/shotguns and the like while going to a sports store will result in bats/clubs/rackets and even balls, that's right balls. this is where DR2 really shines, there is an almost limitless amount of novelty items to twist and turn into your very own killing tools. crafting your own items can be challenging at first but once you start to progress you will receive combo cards which work as a blue print in weapon design. i found that a simple bat with some nails worked wonders but you can get as creative as you choose.

Being set in Vegas means there is gambling aplenty to be done but its not always so easy to win, you can increase your luck at gambling by picking up gambling magazines in bookshops and scattered around zombie infested casino’s. the books also serve to raise the skill level of other things like your combat and even driving. the driving in the game actually works quite well but you have to buy whatever vehicle you want and no matter how many times you do playthrough you won’t be able to afford them unless you start gambling.

The enemies range from your average stumbling zombies to shoplifters trying to score big to my personal favourite, the psychopaths. these are individuals who have been affected by the zombie outbreak and they put up one hell of a fight but beating them gets you big reward points and most lead to more survivors who will tag along with you. the psychopaths all have their own unique traits but they all have one thing in common, they are hard as nails to beat and don’t expect to beat even half of them the first time round, but this is where one of my favourite features comes into play. the game gives the player the ability to quit at any time so they can start a new game but with all the skills and points they had from the last game. this really works in building up a stronger character with superior combat skills and a much higher chance of surviving.

There really is so much i could say about this game and i did indeed play it to death, mostly for the achievements but also because each playthrough was so different. the world is so open you can do whatever you want and save or not save the others hiding around Fortune City, its really up to you. the level design is top notch with wide spacious malls packed with stores/costumes/weapons – casino’s filled with slot machines and zany games which can be played, and so much more.

Dead Rising 2 is a game i really can’t say anything bad about, its was hugely enjoyable playing though your first playthrough will be the hardest. i’m giving it a 9 out of 10, i’m removing 1 point because of katey’s zombrex needs – though the medication could be obtained with a little work it sometimes felt repetitive getting back to her with it in time.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a squad based tactical first person shooter… most of the time.

It’s brought to us by Ubisoft, specifically the Montreal division. I don’t know where Red Storm Entertainment has gone but I guess it matters little.

As I said before RSV 2 is squad based, you’ll usually have another two guys with you at all times. Many people are probably groaning at the moment as they imagine how horrible the A.I is going to be but I was pleasantly surprised at how fluidly it comes together.

Team mates are handy for a number of things. The first is using them to leap frog down a corridor or through a large room; they move forward, you move forward, etc. It’s an effective way to maintain covering fire or draw out enemy fire, both which are needed in various levels. Secondly, team mates can be ordered to move up to a doorway and then enter it in a variety of ways; breach charge, flashbang or sweep and clear. All very fun and all working pretty well together. Trust me, it’s the levels  without team mates you’ll be frustrated at.

Graphically RSV 2 isn’t really up to scratch with the current line-up of FPS’s; Killzone 2, Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2. It was a little reminiscent of the older Rainbow Six games but it really didn’t matter to me in the end. The graphics are good enough to enjoy the game; I find with a good FPS you should be drawn into the intensity of the action so the graphics to not become overly apparent in any deficiencies.   

Gameplay is also pretty good. I’ve already mentioned the squad based stuff which is a nice and integral element to any Rainbow Six game. You can follow this up with a little customization. At the beginning of each level you can usually change your weapon loadout and there’s plenty to choose from too; sub machine guns, assault rifles, light machine guns and sniper rifles are available. Each weapon can be customized with different attachments as well. Furthermore you can choose your armor loadout. You’ll get to choose between light, medium and heavy; each one modifies your mobility offset to the protection it offers. I have to admit though despite wearing the heaviest armor I didn’t see any noticeable drop in mobility and it’s not like you’ll be running around anyway.

All in all it is sounding pretty good so far, right? I’d have to agree but what really makes a Rainbow Six game is the storyline. So how does this one pan out? I was disappointed to be honest. There’s a major story element at the start of the game that in my opinion happened far to fast, this coupled with the often low sound of characters taking through mics meant that I wasn’t entirely aware of what was going on.

This could very well come back to bite you in ass later on in the game in terms of understanding the storyline. Fact of the matter is I was never entirely sure how one of the main characters, Alvarez, came into the game in the first place. It just wasn’t made that clear. However, I played along with the storyline and I was having a good time. There were a few frustrations here and there; unexpectedly being shot in the head and going down as I turned a corner for example. Nothing major though… until I came to the end of the game that is.

I don’t want to go into too much detail and ruin the ending for anyone but it has to be said this is one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a game. It completely ripped apart the flow of the game for me. I’ve played many Rainbow Six games from the very first ones on the PC and even on a Gameboy. I have certain realistic expectations from a Rainbow Six game and the ending to this one clearly didn’t meet expectations. I wonder if Red Storm Entertainment had been involved would the ending have been any different?

Well time to wrap this up I guess. In conclusion Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a decent FPS, perhaps not as good as more recent ones but still entertaining. If you can get past the ridiculous end game scenario then you’ll probably enjoy the game but loyal fans to the Rainbow Six series might be a little disappointed. 

Fallout: New Vegas–Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?

I had such high hopes for this game, really high hopes, dizzyingly high even. I’ve been waiting for this game for sometime wanting a great experience.

After the Fallout 3: GOTY bug fiasco I was hoping, beyond hope, that New Vegas would be released bug free or thereabouts. You see I love nothing more than a good RPG with a rich environment and an immersive storyline; something you could sink into. New Vegas was supposed to be that or so I hoped.

Hope is such a fickle thing and so is New Vegas. This game has more bugs than an ants nest, freezes more than water in the Arctic Circle and glitches more than… well it’s just really glitchy. At first these were minor disturbances and something I could live with. As a software developer myself I know that no software can be produced bug free and I was content to let a few issues aside. Things have changed however.

Over the past three days I’ve been watching my girlfriend go for the end-game scenario’s. There’s four big endings and she wanted the trophy for each. Considering the work she put into it I don’t think it’s too much to ask. Unfortunately the game didn’t think so and decided to fight her all of the way. During one mission the game froze four in less than an hour and then suffered a severe drop in frame rate. Following that the game have an issue were VATS couldn’t be accessed causing the mission to fail indirectly. Entirely ridiculous.

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot I like about this game. It’s a beautiful post-apocalyptic world; my favorite kind. There’s some really interesting characters and backstories around. Modding weapons is a lot of fun and you could build a character around that alone. Plus for anyone who played Fallout 2 back in the day, well, you’ll get a lot of references and pick up on a few things that those newer to the series won’t.

Unfortunately, though, I don’t know what I’ll be doing with this game. My girlfriend ran into an uber glitch only yesterday. This glitch occurs through exploration of Vault 11, be it of your own accord or that of a faction mission. Now anyone who enters a Vault is going to explore it top to bottom because each one has its own unique, twisted story to tell. But the secrets in this Vault could in fact fail one of the four end-game scenarios for you. Why? Because of the oversight of some developer who didn’t realize what a major glitch had been produced.

My girlfriends game and my own have been affected by this. Her chances of getting all end-game scenario’s completed, of getting all trophies has been robbed. I wish I could recommend this game but I can’t. At least not until it’s been patched to fix the serious errors and issues this game is encountering.

A note to all games developers: don’t release a broken game…