DLC Review: Fallout 3's Operation: Anchorage (Xbox 360, PC)

The first of 3 downloadable content packs has been released to our 2008 Game of the Year called Operation: Anchorage.  After you download the content, when you start your game (once you're out of vault 101 if it's a new game) you receive an emergency radio transmission from the Brotherhood Outcasts.  This will place a quest in your quest menu, and a map marker on your map.  When you travel to the marker, you will find an Outcast outpost in a big battle with Super Mutants.  After the battle you'll be invited into the outpost because you have a pip-boy.  The outcasts tell you that there is a large weapons cache that they have found but they cannot open it until they complete a military simulation.  None can use the military sim without a computer like the pip-boy.  So they offer you the task and in return you will get your share of loot from the cache.  *Note: Even if you killed all of the Outcasts in Fort Independence you WILL be able to do this quest.  **Image below courtesy of IGN

Once you are in the simulation, you get to see Fallout 3 in a whole new way.  This is both a good and a bad thing.  It is good because the environments are new and fresh, everything is clean and new, your weapons and armor are brand new so they do not deteriorate, and best of all, there are a couple all new weapons and armor.  The bad, well, the content as a whole is very linear.  There is a lack of exploration due to the fact that you can only pick up certain items in the simulation.  Enemies disappear once they are killed so there's no loot to be taken from them either.  You are limited to certain areas of the simulation as well so the whole free-roaming feel just disappears.  That does not mean that the content is terrible though.  It is still very fun and bring lots of great battles.  The story is pretty decent as well.

*Spoilers* After you beat the sim, you get to take everything out of a weapons room which includes some new weapons and armor such as the Gauss Rifle (uses microfusion rounds), Trench Knife (like the combat knife), Jingwei's Shocksword (electric Chinese officer sword), Winterized T-51b Power Armor (and helmet), and the badass Chinese Stealth Armor. This is not all that is in the cache though.  There are tons of other weapons and guns throughout, but that is all of the new stuff that you get to bring into your Fallout universe.  *End spoilers*  My recommendation for maximum loot'age would be to do the sim, then kill all of the Outcasts in the outpost.  They all have a lot of weapons and the outpost has quite a bit as well.

In the end, I'd give the DLC a 7 out of 10.  It's hard to discredit the content too much because it is still Fallout 3 which is tons of fun and it brings some pretty awesome new stuff to the game.  Though it does leave a little to be desired.  Also, the 4 added achievements that total for 100 gamerscore are rewarded for completing the quests within the content and nothing more, so no going out of your way for strange achievements.  Good thing it is only 800 points as opposed to 1200 or 1600.

7/10

-CA

Review: Resistance 2 (PS3)

Resistance 2 starts off directly where Resistance: Fall of Man left off. You continue the story at Lieutenant Hale where you get airlifted out of Europe. A lot has changed for this game, versus the first Resistance. The first thing that you will notice is the graphics. HUGE improvement (as you would expect since the first was a launch title)! Everything is far more detailed than in the first game (especially the character models). The very next thing that you will notice is that this game is VERY BIG. Everything about this game is huge! The environments are bigger and better, the enemies are bigger and better, and the game itself is bigger and better. And the third thing that you will notice very quickly is that you can only hold two different guns at a time. While that last one may seem like a downer to some, it actually makes the game better (in my opinion) and more realistic (have you ever seen a soldier carrying 8 guns like you can in Resistance 1? Didn't think so).

The game is very much improved from the first, almost to the point where it makes Resistance 1 seem bad. There is a single player campaign mode as well as a co-op campaign mode. There is a 60 player multi player mode that is almost lag free! Insomniac really brought their A game for this title. Aside from the things mentioned already, they ditched the crappy four bar health system for the regenerative health system that almost all fps's now use (thank god). There is a much bigger variety of enemies and many of them are massive! It is a lot like Gears of War 2 with battle sizes and enemy sizes. Not only that, but they also brought many theme changes to the game as well. Most fps's are either run and gun (halo) style or hide and gun (gears of war) style. Resistance 2 provides a nice blend of the two, where sometimes you will have run and gun action sequences and sometimes you will have large battles in which the duck and cover method is required. Not only that, but some parts of the game even left you with a sort of survival horror feel to it. At one point you have to go through a large train tunnel which has hundreds of Chimera eggs throughout. Needless to say, you don't have nearly enough ammo to destroy all of the eggs, so you have to slowly creep through the tunnel and random eggs hatch and attack you as you do so. It gives a feel much like Dead Space during those sequences.  Just before that event in the game, you get a sort of Left 4 Dead feel when travelling through a neighborhood in which all of its' inhabitants have been turned into Chimera eggs, ready to hatch.  When you get to certain areas, a lot do hatch and they attack you.  Because these Chimera have just hatched, they do not have guns so they sprint towards you and beat you to death (much like in Left 4 Dead) and yes, there are a lot of them, much like in Left 4 Dead when a boomer vomits on you.  Anyway, enough with other game references!

The game proves itself to be a serious competitor in the intense competition of FPS games.  With the combination of new elements (controls, guns, enemies, environments, etc) it really shines especially if you've played the first Resistance title.  They even got rid of the boring narrative story telling of the first for a more personal truly FPS style of story telling.  In the end, Resistance 2 gets a 9 out of 10.  I'd say it's a much have for PS3 owners.  And if you play this game before the first and think you want to go out and buy the first... you might be left disappointed because it is THAT much better than the first.

9/10

-CA

Mini Review: Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)

Well, before I can post a review on Resistance 2, I figured I should at least do a small review of the first.  Please note that the score at the end of this review is the score that would have been given at this game's release, not what it would be rated now.  The reason for this is because games have evolved quite a bit in the past few years and it would receive a lower rating if it were reviewed by today's standards.

Resistance: Fall of Man is a game that probably 90% of PS3 owners have played at one point or another.  It was the system's first exclusive game that made an impact.  You play an American soldier named Lieutenant Hale that has been sent to Europe along with thousands of other American soldiers because there has been some sort of alien attack.  The game takes place about when World War 2 would have taken place if aliens hadn't attacked, so you get a nice alternate reality scenario.  In the beginning of the game, you are captured by the alien race (called Chimera) and are taken to a huge containment facility where the Chimera run people through machines that transform them into a Chimera.  Your character (Hale) is started into the process of turning into a Chimera but is then rescued by fellow soldiers before you could really "change".  Because of this, you gain traits and abilities that make you better than the average soldier.  You can heal using the Chimera health devices, etc.  

Overall, the story is well written and is told from a narrative perspective (kind of like the call of duty series).  The game is a pretty generic first person shooter in that it doesn't really bring too much innovation to the table.  The game does have its moments where the battles really shine and you thoroughly enjoy the experience, but for the most part, it's an average fps.  There are plenty of guns, all with secondary fire functions (nothing new).  The only real flaw the game has besides the lack of innovation, is the health system.  When this game was made, fps's were starting this new trend of regenerative health.  Insomniac decided not to use this system.  Instead you have a 4 block health bar.  Bad choice, with the large number of enemies in the game and intense battle sequences, the health system works in the enemies favor as there are not a lot of health pickups throughout.  As far as the story goes, it definitely helps bring the game up and out of its mediocrity, as it is very good.  With a so-so multi player mode (again, nothing that bad, but nothing new either), I'd score this game (when it was new in 2006) an 8 of 10.

8/10

-CA

Gaming in 3D?

If you've been following the news on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, you may have heard a lot of 3D talk in the means of gaming.  While this idea isn't entirely new (the have been a few games and accessories in the past to attempt this), it is definitely intriguing.  First it was Nvidia showing off their new GeForce 3D Vision kit which allows PC gamers to play games in stereoscopic 3D with a set of wireless glasses.  Gamespot.com has done an extensive article on the new product which can be found here.  To add on to the 3D trend, Sony included quite a bit of 3D action in their keynote this morning including some shots of Gran Turismo 5 in 3D.  While Sony reps have already said that those images were "for demonstration purposes only" and "are not a product", it still leaves you with the question: Will this be in the future of gaming?  Imagine walking through the wastelands in Fallout 3, with that already immersive atmosphere of the game, in 3D.  Imagine racing in Forza 3 or Gran Turismo 5 beside Ferraris in 3D to make if truly seem like you are up against those supercars (especially with GT5's ridiculously detailed cockpit view).  I dunno about you, but I think that this is one new concept that can be brought to gaming without being either a huge let down or a gimmick.  What do you think?

-CA

Excited for 2009? I know I am!

This year is going to be ridiculous, just as last year was, for video games.  As blu ray takes hold, the PS3 sales are bound to increase, the 360 just keeps getting cheaper and Wii is becoming more and more available.  Titles to look forward to?  Well I thought you'd never ask.  Let's start with the ridiculously popular Wii.  There isn't much that has been announced that is considered a "big title" for the Wii but there are some.  Boom Blox, EA's surprise hit with help from Steven Spielberg, is going to have a sequel out this year.  Will it take the game in a new direction or will it be add ons to the hilarious fun that was the original?  Only time will tell.  There's rumors going around that a new Zelda game is due out this year.  Nintendo is by far the best keeper of secrets in the industry, so we probably won't know for sure until about 2 months before it gets released, but I say it couldn't be a better time for it.  Based off the time frame in which the last few Zelda games were released, this year a release would be following the trend perfectly and the Wii is overdue for the hardcore gamer's big title.  Those titles along with an all new House of the Dead make for, well to be honest, a pretty weak lineup but that is nothing new for the Wii.  I'm hoping at least that the Zelda rumor will be true so I can dust off my Wii and get some all night sessions in like when I got Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, and Mario Galaxy.  The Playstation 3 has some big titles coming out this year including on of its most anticipated hits, Killzone 2.  I hope this doesn't become an over hyped POS like Haze, but it certainly looks good so far.  With more and more Little Big Planet DLC coming out, Gran Turismo 5 is supposed to be finally coming out, and a nice list of PSN titles, the PS3 is looking at a good year ahead.  The Xbox360 is also going to have a good year which in turn would make 2009 an all around great year for consoles.  Exclusive DLC coming to Grand Theft Auto 4 and Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 gives it a nice boost considering that these two titles consumed the majority of the Game of the Year awards given out for 2008.  This coupled with the fact that is has landed itself a piece of former Playstation exclusive titles such as Tekken and Final Fantasy (which both have new titles coming this year: Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy 13) thing are looking up for Xbox.   The smash hit racer Forza Motorsport is rumored to be released its third installment towards the fall of '09 and is rumored to be boasting 2 discs of content including over 400 cars and over 100 tracks.  The combination of Forza 3 and Gran Turismo 5 being released in the same year will be a huge treat to gear head gamers such as myself.  Let's not leave out the third party titles.  Resident Evil 5 and Skate 2 are big titles coming out right in the beginning of the year.  We know EA is working on a sequel to the Horror hit Dead Space, but whether we will see it this year or next is a mystery.  Bioware is releasing a new KOTOR, though that's PC and not console gaming, and has been working on a sequel to Mass Effect for quite some time now.  Will we see that this year?  I certainly hope so!  Bioshock 2, a sequel to Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dead Rising 2, FEAR 2, Portal 2, and Doom 4 are just a few among the massive list of sequels that we are hoping will come in '09.  If this doesn't get you excited for the year ahead... nothing will.

-CA

Quick Take on the Console War

I could talk forever about video games but there have been some trends that have been going on lately that bug me...  First and foremost would have to be this whole fanboyism thing.  I hatefanboys... A LOT!  They claim that what they like is better than everything else no matter what.  Know who else was a fanboy?  Adolf Hitler!  Think he was right about everything he said?  Definitely NOT!  He thought that blonde hair and blue eyes = supremacy just like video game fanboys think that the xbox 360 or whatever their choice of fanboyism is, is the best.  Well, just like good 'ole Adolf, YOU'RE WRONG!  All of the consoles that are out right now have their pros and cons.  Your Xbox 360 will probably get the "red ring of death" at least once in its lifetime and you will have to buy another if you are out of the warranty life.  Your Playstation 3 will sign you out of thePlaystation Network at least once when you don't want it to, and for no apparent reason at all.  And finally, you will see just how laggyonline play can get when you try to play a Wii game online.  These do not mean that one console is better than the other.  It just means none of them are perfect.  

Let me break down the 3 consoles here for you.  Lets start with the cheapest.  The Nintendo Wii; and you might be thinking, "hey, theWii is $249 and the Xbox 360 arcade is $199.  What gives?"  Well, the fact that the memory included with the Xbox 360 arcade will only allow you to be able to save maybe 1 or 2 games before you have to buy an outrageously priced $100 hard drive is the reason.  I'm just being realistic.  Anyway, back to the Wii; it is by far the most popular console of the 3 and is still difficult to find in stores despite having been released 2 years ago.  I got mine on the release date.  The Wii has no hard drive, but has 512MB of flash memory.  This is more than enough to accommodate for the minuscule save files that the Wii produces.  The problem arises when you start downloading games from the Virtual Console store.  The only saving grace is that you can put the save files on an SD card and delete the games.  Then if you want to play them again you just download them again for free from the Virtual Console store.  The Wii also has built in Wi-Fi.  It is very easy to set up and use though Nintendo uses these things they call "friend codes" so that you can find your friends online.  It's pretty much the least convieneint way of finding friends out of the 3 consoles.  

Now to the Wii's critical point... GAMES.  The a new gamer, the Wiiis a dream come true.  There are tons of games to choose from and  lot of them are very easy to pick up and play.  This is to the hardcore gamer's dismay however because these games are what we call "shovel ware".  Simple pick up and play kind of games where there is no story or anything like that.  You just do what the game tels you over and over again.  Things like Cooking Mama and Wii Fit and Wii Play and other "Wii hit titles" are included in this category.  Then, if you decide that you want to get more into gaming, they have titles for the hardcore gamer as well, though only a few.  Games like Mario Galaxy, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, and others of the sort fit in this category.  The hardcore gamers are pretty much pissed that there are so few games directed towards them so the Xbox and Playstation fanboys cry that the Wii is a "baby system" and they also cry that it doesn't have high definitioncapablilities like their respective consoles do.  While this may be true, it doesn't mean that the Wii is a bad system.  It comes with everything you need to start up and play in the box (including a game: Wii Sports) and even though the graphics might not be as pretty, it doesn't mean the games aren't fun.

Next up is the Xbox 360.  While you can get the console itself for the cheapest price ($199), it remains by far the worst value for the dollar compared to the other 2 consoles.  The Wii is only $50 more and it includes built in wifi.  A Wireless network adapter for the Xbox 360 will run you $100 thus bringing the total up to $299.  The Playstation3 comes with built in wifi, a big hard drive, AND a built in dvd/blu ray player.  The Xbox 360 need at least $100 for a hard drive (unless you buy a used one), then $100 for the wireless network adapter, thus bringing the price to match the Playstation 3 at $399 but you can't play blu ray movies on an Xbox 360!  Only dvds.  This isn't the only thing that makes the Xbox 360 the worst value for the dollar.  In order to play games online you must sign up to the Xbox Live Gold service which costs $50 a year.  The Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wiiboth offer 100% FREE online services.

So right now you might be thinking, how is this console possibly selling well against the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii?  Plagued by hardware failures and post-purchase costs...  Well, frankly, it kind of makes up for it.  The Xbox 360 has the largest selection of games, the games are in beautiful high definition, and the fact that you pay for your Xbox Live service only means that you are going to have reliable connections with the least amount of lag out of the 3 consoles.  The Xbox 360 has a massive list of exclusive titles as well as third party hits.  Despite not having a blu ray player, you can still watch movies in hi def via netflix (though other than the trial, you have to pay for that too).  The instant streaming is pretty awesome, I have to say.  The one other post-purchase cost that I will point out is that the controllers use AA batteries (as do the Wii's).

So, as we get to "the most expensive console" the Playstation 3, you're probably wondering what problems it could possibly have to sell worse than these other 2 consoles (because yes it is the worst selling out of the 3).  The answer may actually shock you.  The price is its issue.  Fanboys and others may argue that the price is not its issue but I BEG to differ.  The number of time I heard "that's too expensive" when I used to work at Circuit City or while I was just shopping in  random electronics store is UNREAL!  Yes, it is the most expensive... IN THE BOX.  But you get built in wifi, built in hard drive, and  built in blu ray player (not to mention it has been labeled the best blu ray player on the market several times).  There is no better in the box VALUE than this, yet people still cry that it's too expensive.  It does have problems though.  The console produces  lot of heat (though it rarely overheats), the playstation network isn't exactly reliable with its online connections, and for some reason third party developers like to make the playstation 3 versions of games to a lesser quality than that of the Xbox 360 versions.  Not all of the third party games are better on the Xbox than the playstation, but there are a few that are clearly so.  Also, the playstation 3 doesn't have as big of an exclusive gaming library when compared to the other two as well.  

In the end, you see that all three have their pros and cons, but I just ask that you don't judge based off of fanboy's opinions.  Judge off of your own.  Don't be like Hitler, don't be a fanboy...

-CA

2008 Gamers USA GOTY Awards!

Well folks, they're finally here!  The votes have been tallied and here they are.  After much deliberation between the four of us, we have all settled on the following:

Best Party Game - Scene it? Box Office Smash! (Xbox 360)

Honorable Mention - Boom Blox (Wii)

Best Portable Game - Chrono Trigger (Nintendo DS)

Honorable Mention - God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

Best Music Game - Rock Band 2 (multi)

Honorable Mention - Guitar Hero: World Tour (multi)

Best Downloadable Game (does not include games avail. on disc) - Braid (XBL)

Honorable Mention - N+ (XBL)

Best In-game Environment - Dead Space (multi)

Honorable Mention - Fallout 3 (multi)

Best Fighting Game - Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)

Honorable Mention - Soul Caliber IV (multi)

Best Shooter - Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)

Honorable Mention - Resistance 2 (PS3) and Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)

Best RPG - Fallout 3 (multi)

Honorable Mention - Chrono Trigger (Nintendo DS)

Best Horror Game - Dead Space (multi)

Honorable Mention - Silent Hill: Homecoming (multi)

Best Sports Game - Tiger Woods '09 (multi)

Honorable Mention - Skate It (Wii)

Best Racing Game - Burnout Paradise (multi)

Honorable Mention - Midnight Club: Los Angeles (multi)

Best new IP - Dead Space (multi)

Honorable Mention - Little Big Planet (PS3)

Best Sound - Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)

Honorable Mention - Dead Space (multi)

Best Graphics - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3)

Honorable Mention - Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) and Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)

Best Downloadable Content - Burnout Paradise (multi)

Most Satisfying Hype - Grand Theft Auto IV (multi)

Most Disappointing Hype - Wii Music (Wii)

Most Malicious Gore - Dead Space (multi)

Honorable Mention - Fallout 3 (multi)

Most Side Stories/Jobs - Fable 2 (Xbox 360)

Honorable Mention - Grand Theft Auto IV (multi) and Fallout 3 (multi)

Game That Left Us Begging For A Sequel - Dead Space (multi)

Honorable Mention - Fallout 3 (multi)

Most Unique Control Scheme - Mirror's Edge (multi)

Most Life-Consuming Game - Fallout 3 (multi)

Honorable Mention - Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) and Grand Theft Auto IV (multi)

Highest Replay Value - Fallout 3 (multi)

Best PC Game - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Honorable Mention - Spore

Best Nintendo DS Game - Chrono Trigger

Honorable Mention - Ninjatown

Best PSP Game - God of War: Chains of Olympus

Honorable Mention - Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

Best Wii Game - Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Honorable Mention - Boom Blox

Best Xbox 360 Game - Fable 2

Honorable Mention - Gears of War 2

Best PS3 Game - Metal Gear Solid 4

Honorable Mention - Little Big Planet

GAME OF THE YEAR HONORABLE MENTION - Grand Theft Auto IV (multi) and Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

GAME OF THE YEAR!

FALLOUT 3 (multi)

After hours of playing and many a sleepless night, this new addition to the Fallout franchise quickly became an instant favorite of all of us here at Gamersusa. The revamp to the franchise was Bethesda's difficult but satisfying task. Doing a good job of rebuilding Interplay's baby, Bethesda has definitely proved itself to, pretty much, the entire industry. Fallout 3 literally starts you off at your character's birth and lets you build yourself from the very beginning. The story does not stop there; Fallout 3, in addition to a main storyline, has many arduous and somtimes hilarious tasks. From finding an old lady her violin to dealing with people who think they're supervillains, there's no end to the outrageous side-tasks. Bethesda has taken a brand new approach to the RPG genre, by mixing action/adventure, RPG, and FPS elements. One of the most noteable being the Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.), a 'slo-mo' way of meticulously defeating various foes, which lets you pick out parts of the body individually in order to cripple them. With a wide variety of weapons, tools, foodstuffs, and plenty of skill books, Fallout 3 lets you play the way you want to play, which is why it made our Game of the Year. So, in closing, if you haven't played it yet, go buy it!

-gmusa staff