Best fps's
Not as much goes into a good FPS anymore, in fact most of the new FPS’s are just cookie cutters of the COD series… barf* What I have here is a list of some of my favorite FPS’s and what makes them great.
Fallout 3 (Elder Scrolls iV: Oblivion)
These Bethesda games are made by the same company, and basically the same group of people. New people were added to the group, taking out, etc in the making of Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim and it is why both of those games failed to be top tier games. Here is first a list of reasons why these games are better than their counter parts.
1. The graphics: We all know that the graphics in Skyrim as well as New Vegas are improved somewhat (Skyrim more so) but was it
all that necessary? Meaning this, I have tried to play Morrowind multiple multiple multiple times and the graphics are so bad it makes the GAMEPLAY almost impossible to play. So do the graphics of Oblivion and Fallout 3 make the game play difficult? No, not at all as I have gone back and played both these titles after the fact and found it to be in fact better. The graphics don’t have to be
the best thing on the planet, they need to compliment game play- if game play is terrible (Diablo 3) it doesn’t matter how good the graphics are where as if game play is awesome graphics only need to be good enough to not stifle. And the graphics in both of these games are still amazing, Fallout 3 gives the feel of a post nuclear fallout world perfectly, and Oblivion provides a beautiful world
that is worth exploring.
2. Game play is better- I will give some examples but there really are so many I cannot even name them all. For starters the arrows in
Oblivion had no “maximum distance” meaning if you could see something you could hit them. In Skyrim you had to be within the characters bubble of “being able to track you” (yeah that makes sense right?) before your arrows would hit them- EVEN IF you could clearly see them your arrows would just sail through them. That is of course not before alerting them to your presence, wow stupid. Another example from Oblivion would be that you could cast spells with a sword in hand, now I have to admit the quick change options they added in Skyrim was a great idea (if it was in Oblivion) but since you never needed to change your load out once in
Skyrim it was wasted and you needed to switch up your hands before you could cast healing spells on yourself. This made the battles seem less fluid and choppy as you had to freeze, change hands, heal, change back, charge in again- where in Oblivion you just took a step back and healed and ran back in. Likewise the added “slow motion death” animations were horrible to say the least, choppy and laggy- half the time it would zoom out and you couldn’t even see anything before being thrown back into first person again to continue the fight. Needless breaking up of the fight that looked terrible, there was no need for these “instant KO” animations (that can also be used on you for maximum pissed off affect- you can have full hp and one hit later, DEAD…. Dumb dumb dumb dumb duuuuuummmb!) The slow motion arrow deaths on the other hand MIGHT have been cool since they really wouldn’t chop up the battle too much as it would follow the path of the arrow- that is if they COULD EVER GET IT TO WORK! There were so many glitches surrounding this that I cannot even list them all, the most painful one being you paralyzing someone with your arrows before the arrow even hit them (yeah…. Awesome) and watch in slow motion as your arrow flies harmlessly over the persons head as they fall paralyzed on the ground unharmed…. Brilliant… An example from Fallout 3 would be the fact that you could snipe people from far away to great effect once you had the gear; being able to kill small parties before they could even figure out where you were and launch a counter attack- which was awesome! In Fallout New Vegas they added an AI script that figured out where you were as soon as you shoot your first bullet. Let me explain; you are sitting in the mountains in gray colored gear with the sun to your back with a SILENCED rifle and you zoom in (you have to zoom in because they are so far away you cannot even SEE them until you do so) and you take a shot- the entire group of bad guys will immediately turn to where you are and begin shooting up at you with pistols, rifles, missile launchers, whatever they happen to have. Garbage, absolute garbage! I would rather have the garbage in Skyrim (“hello, is anyone there?”- with an arrow in the eye) then to have this bull crap. Kills game play! OH man, and did I mention that you can’t SWING YOUR ()&(^( SWORD UNDER WATER IN SKYRIM! (&^*&(^!
3. End Game Play; end game play in both FO3 and ES4 are worlds better. In fact there IS NO end game in New Vegas, it simply ended the game… Really bad… In the Elder Scrolls a large part of the end game was completing side mission (unique ones), guild quest lines, as well as loot finding. In Skyrim those are all dead. The Guild quest lines are a joke (seriously less than half the size of Oblivion's)- you can become the Arch mage while not casting a single spell (yeah you can just use a dragon shout to get into the campus and then complete the storyline… weak weak weak!) and the worst part is that when you become the head masters in
Skyrim NOTHING CHANGES! You get to go back and do repeating RETARDED quests over and over again for worthless money? (and listen to the dread mother’s new AWFUL AWFUL voice which is raspy- why the HELL is a spirit's voice raspy? SHE IS DEAD!) In Oblivion it mattered! Once you became the arch mage you could create your own spells (ridiculously awesome) as well as the fact that if you then did the thief guilds quest line one of the quests was to steal the arch mage's staff- YOUR STAFF- and bring it back! It was so awesome to be able to just walk into your room and pick up your staff and walk out because of the work you had done as a mage. REWARDING GAME PLAY! Loot finding is non-existent in Skyrim as they added dragon bone gear (one of the dumbest ideas to date) that you can make yourself, and this is why it was a terrible idea. You have to invest precious points (which are far and in between in this game, if you max your level you can only get around a third of the potential skills or less) into your smith to be able to make the gear and you cannot uninvest skill points. This means a couple things, first off dragon gear has to be CLEARLY the best gear in the game period or there would be no point in investing into this skill tree, second you now know that whatever they add in DLC can NOT add items that are better than dragon gear because they will not let you uninvest skill points and if they did no one would ever invest in this skill tree again, and third since it is the best stuff in the game (and you basically can get it within the first 10 hours of game play, getting smith skill up to 100 isn’t difficult…) there is no point at ALL at looking at loot drops for THE REST OF THE GAME! So why keep playing? Killing dragons? It’s a joke it is so easy, I had 30+ dragons’ souls and there was no purpose for them other than unlocking shouts (which were all unlocked AND worthless with a capital W). I mean if they had given the ability to absorb dragon souls into SKILL POINTS, now that would have been something, but as it stood the freaking GIANTS were kicking the dragon’s buttocks- seriously, giants are OVER POWERED!
4. Evolving combat- I really don’t have to go into this very far, anyone with half a brain and some brain cells still kicking will not argue this point. In Skyrim I picked up a bow and an arrow and 50+ hours later I am asking myself why the HELL am I still playing this game! You don’t need to change your load out once, every single enemy in the game (including the final boss, which was killed by just standing back and shooting arrows at him while he watched, and then died…amazing) can be killed by any choice of weapons
you choose. A fire dragon? Sure you can kill that with fire… Frost dragon? Sure, frost magic why not… whatever you want to use be it magic, arrows, or hand to hand combat will work fine in every single situation in the game. No need to change. Now the reason they made the game that way was because they crippled you in the number of skill points they gave you which means you really only CAN use one choice of attack the whole blasted game; apparently to up the replay value- riiiiiight… so I want to go back through and do the same thing with the same equipment and just kill every enemy in the game in a NEW same way for 50+ hours? Seriously? Wake up… “well they wanted you to SPECIALIZE in something…” you know when you have that? WHEN YOU CAN HAVE PARTY CREATION AND YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE FREAKING PERSON! THHHHEEEN you can have one hand to hand, one thief, one mage, etc etc… If there is NO multiplayer (coop or online) and you are IT, they need to be able to have you excel at EVERYTHING like they did in Fallout 3 and Oblivion or else you will just be doing the same thing over and over again for 50+ hours (think Fable… It was no different)
5. This had gotten way too long and I could go on all day… Needless to say Oblivion and Fallout 3 were better games hands down…
Now why should you play these two games? Because they can do what I described above…They are some of the best (if not THE best) first person ARPG’s of all time. You want to be an ass and kill everyone you see? YOU CAN IN FALLOUT 3! NOT like in Red Dead Redemption, you can actually role play in these games! The RPG elements such as vitality, health, mana, leveling up, etc etc are not dumbed down for the general population (where now 80% of people graduating in New York alone cannot even read and write, hahaha… awesome…) but gratify the player for using his brain! You run across a wisp in Oblivion you can’t just use your sword on it; or if you run across an ogre you can’t just cast a spell on him-you have to think and adapt or you die. These two games, especially the Game of the Year versions are MUST PLAYS! The content you get for such a small amount of money is so worth the investment with very little risk involved! These games were GAME OF THE YEAR for a reason, not just because nothing else good came out (cough* RED DEAD!)
THIS GAME IS WORTH: FULL PRICE
ASKING: You can get Game of the Year Editions of both games (for consoles) for under $10 each on amazon.com
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE (no excuse value for how much content you get…)
1. The graphics: We all know that the graphics in Skyrim as well as New Vegas are improved somewhat (Skyrim more so) but was it
all that necessary? Meaning this, I have tried to play Morrowind multiple multiple multiple times and the graphics are so bad it makes the GAMEPLAY almost impossible to play. So do the graphics of Oblivion and Fallout 3 make the game play difficult? No, not at all as I have gone back and played both these titles after the fact and found it to be in fact better. The graphics don’t have to be
the best thing on the planet, they need to compliment game play- if game play is terrible (Diablo 3) it doesn’t matter how good the graphics are where as if game play is awesome graphics only need to be good enough to not stifle. And the graphics in both of these games are still amazing, Fallout 3 gives the feel of a post nuclear fallout world perfectly, and Oblivion provides a beautiful world
that is worth exploring.
2. Game play is better- I will give some examples but there really are so many I cannot even name them all. For starters the arrows in
Oblivion had no “maximum distance” meaning if you could see something you could hit them. In Skyrim you had to be within the characters bubble of “being able to track you” (yeah that makes sense right?) before your arrows would hit them- EVEN IF you could clearly see them your arrows would just sail through them. That is of course not before alerting them to your presence, wow stupid. Another example from Oblivion would be that you could cast spells with a sword in hand, now I have to admit the quick change options they added in Skyrim was a great idea (if it was in Oblivion) but since you never needed to change your load out once in
Skyrim it was wasted and you needed to switch up your hands before you could cast healing spells on yourself. This made the battles seem less fluid and choppy as you had to freeze, change hands, heal, change back, charge in again- where in Oblivion you just took a step back and healed and ran back in. Likewise the added “slow motion death” animations were horrible to say the least, choppy and laggy- half the time it would zoom out and you couldn’t even see anything before being thrown back into first person again to continue the fight. Needless breaking up of the fight that looked terrible, there was no need for these “instant KO” animations (that can also be used on you for maximum pissed off affect- you can have full hp and one hit later, DEAD…. Dumb dumb dumb dumb duuuuuummmb!) The slow motion arrow deaths on the other hand MIGHT have been cool since they really wouldn’t chop up the battle too much as it would follow the path of the arrow- that is if they COULD EVER GET IT TO WORK! There were so many glitches surrounding this that I cannot even list them all, the most painful one being you paralyzing someone with your arrows before the arrow even hit them (yeah…. Awesome) and watch in slow motion as your arrow flies harmlessly over the persons head as they fall paralyzed on the ground unharmed…. Brilliant… An example from Fallout 3 would be the fact that you could snipe people from far away to great effect once you had the gear; being able to kill small parties before they could even figure out where you were and launch a counter attack- which was awesome! In Fallout New Vegas they added an AI script that figured out where you were as soon as you shoot your first bullet. Let me explain; you are sitting in the mountains in gray colored gear with the sun to your back with a SILENCED rifle and you zoom in (you have to zoom in because they are so far away you cannot even SEE them until you do so) and you take a shot- the entire group of bad guys will immediately turn to where you are and begin shooting up at you with pistols, rifles, missile launchers, whatever they happen to have. Garbage, absolute garbage! I would rather have the garbage in Skyrim (“hello, is anyone there?”- with an arrow in the eye) then to have this bull crap. Kills game play! OH man, and did I mention that you can’t SWING YOUR ()&(^( SWORD UNDER WATER IN SKYRIM! (&^*&(^!
3. End Game Play; end game play in both FO3 and ES4 are worlds better. In fact there IS NO end game in New Vegas, it simply ended the game… Really bad… In the Elder Scrolls a large part of the end game was completing side mission (unique ones), guild quest lines, as well as loot finding. In Skyrim those are all dead. The Guild quest lines are a joke (seriously less than half the size of Oblivion's)- you can become the Arch mage while not casting a single spell (yeah you can just use a dragon shout to get into the campus and then complete the storyline… weak weak weak!) and the worst part is that when you become the head masters in
Skyrim NOTHING CHANGES! You get to go back and do repeating RETARDED quests over and over again for worthless money? (and listen to the dread mother’s new AWFUL AWFUL voice which is raspy- why the HELL is a spirit's voice raspy? SHE IS DEAD!) In Oblivion it mattered! Once you became the arch mage you could create your own spells (ridiculously awesome) as well as the fact that if you then did the thief guilds quest line one of the quests was to steal the arch mage's staff- YOUR STAFF- and bring it back! It was so awesome to be able to just walk into your room and pick up your staff and walk out because of the work you had done as a mage. REWARDING GAME PLAY! Loot finding is non-existent in Skyrim as they added dragon bone gear (one of the dumbest ideas to date) that you can make yourself, and this is why it was a terrible idea. You have to invest precious points (which are far and in between in this game, if you max your level you can only get around a third of the potential skills or less) into your smith to be able to make the gear and you cannot uninvest skill points. This means a couple things, first off dragon gear has to be CLEARLY the best gear in the game period or there would be no point in investing into this skill tree, second you now know that whatever they add in DLC can NOT add items that are better than dragon gear because they will not let you uninvest skill points and if they did no one would ever invest in this skill tree again, and third since it is the best stuff in the game (and you basically can get it within the first 10 hours of game play, getting smith skill up to 100 isn’t difficult…) there is no point at ALL at looking at loot drops for THE REST OF THE GAME! So why keep playing? Killing dragons? It’s a joke it is so easy, I had 30+ dragons’ souls and there was no purpose for them other than unlocking shouts (which were all unlocked AND worthless with a capital W). I mean if they had given the ability to absorb dragon souls into SKILL POINTS, now that would have been something, but as it stood the freaking GIANTS were kicking the dragon’s buttocks- seriously, giants are OVER POWERED!
4. Evolving combat- I really don’t have to go into this very far, anyone with half a brain and some brain cells still kicking will not argue this point. In Skyrim I picked up a bow and an arrow and 50+ hours later I am asking myself why the HELL am I still playing this game! You don’t need to change your load out once, every single enemy in the game (including the final boss, which was killed by just standing back and shooting arrows at him while he watched, and then died…amazing) can be killed by any choice of weapons
you choose. A fire dragon? Sure you can kill that with fire… Frost dragon? Sure, frost magic why not… whatever you want to use be it magic, arrows, or hand to hand combat will work fine in every single situation in the game. No need to change. Now the reason they made the game that way was because they crippled you in the number of skill points they gave you which means you really only CAN use one choice of attack the whole blasted game; apparently to up the replay value- riiiiiight… so I want to go back through and do the same thing with the same equipment and just kill every enemy in the game in a NEW same way for 50+ hours? Seriously? Wake up… “well they wanted you to SPECIALIZE in something…” you know when you have that? WHEN YOU CAN HAVE PARTY CREATION AND YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE FREAKING PERSON! THHHHEEEN you can have one hand to hand, one thief, one mage, etc etc… If there is NO multiplayer (coop or online) and you are IT, they need to be able to have you excel at EVERYTHING like they did in Fallout 3 and Oblivion or else you will just be doing the same thing over and over again for 50+ hours (think Fable… It was no different)
5. This had gotten way too long and I could go on all day… Needless to say Oblivion and Fallout 3 were better games hands down…
Now why should you play these two games? Because they can do what I described above…They are some of the best (if not THE best) first person ARPG’s of all time. You want to be an ass and kill everyone you see? YOU CAN IN FALLOUT 3! NOT like in Red Dead Redemption, you can actually role play in these games! The RPG elements such as vitality, health, mana, leveling up, etc etc are not dumbed down for the general population (where now 80% of people graduating in New York alone cannot even read and write, hahaha… awesome…) but gratify the player for using his brain! You run across a wisp in Oblivion you can’t just use your sword on it; or if you run across an ogre you can’t just cast a spell on him-you have to think and adapt or you die. These two games, especially the Game of the Year versions are MUST PLAYS! The content you get for such a small amount of money is so worth the investment with very little risk involved! These games were GAME OF THE YEAR for a reason, not just because nothing else good came out (cough* RED DEAD!)
THIS GAME IS WORTH: FULL PRICE
ASKING: You can get Game of the Year Editions of both games (for consoles) for under $10 each on amazon.com
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE (no excuse value for how much content you get…)
Mass Effect I-III
Like Dragon Age Origins, this game gave me hope. Not like Dragon Age did mind you, but hope none the less… Hope in this case that RPG’s still had a future in the FPS genre. This game is really M for mature, with mature themes such as having to decide who to rescue and who to let die in real time, this game was phenomenal. Something else this game did for console users that I have yet to see (which has to be the
freaking coolest thing I have ever seen on consoles to DATE) was making the achievements in this game actually worth something. Not only do you get some Gamerscore (worthless to most) you will gain permanent passive strengths for completing said achievements. Examples being you get an achievement for spending a lot of time with the soldier in your group and the achievement grants you a 10% reduction in overall damage… HOW FREAKING COOL! The achievements became an actual passive skill tree that you could then increase your overall power by doing said achievement- so freaking smart. This fact ALONE made the replay value of the first installment the best of the series HANDS DOWN. This game is set up
like a first person (over the shoulder, like Gears of War/ Army of Two) with active cover taking a large role (like Gears of War/Army of Two/Rainbow; Las Vegas, etc) and the RPG elements of this game are not dumbed down. They do get dumbed down at about the same proportion as Dragon Age Origins to Dragon Age 2 to this game Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2. The difference in this case being
that they turned it more into a FPS and less into an actual RPG, and they turned it into a decent FPS. This meant that they lost (in Mass Effect 2) a large group of the RPG fans (I have to admit I did enjoy the RPG mature feel of Mass Effect more than the FPS teenager feel of ME2), but they seemed to gain a decent size of FPS fans in the process, so the effect was not as visible as it was from DA to DA2. When they took the RPG out when creating DA2, the game became a “button masher”- and not even a decent button masher at that- so they lost almost their entire base and gained no new base. Mass Effect 3 tried to add a little bit more RPG in the
3rdinstallment back in (trying to rekindle their lost base that loved the 1stinstallment, while still keeping their new FPS base from the 2nd) which was almost like salt in the wound. The RPG that they DID add was very basic and just made the RPG gamer drop a few tears in “what could have been moments”. The third installment (even with the new extended ending) does not do the series justice in the slightest because of the terrible closing this game delivered. That being said, the game play AS WELL as the story in number 3
was WORLDS better than ME2 ever delivered, except for the ending. If ME3 had NOT had an ending and just said “to be continued” (stupid right?)- THAT would have been better than what it had. If the ending would have been better it would have trumped ME2 easily in every single fascist. It would have not however been a better RPG experience than the 1st, which clearly set the tone for the series. It is a shame that what made ME and DA great was abandoned in their sequels for cash grabs attempts at ADHD-button mashing-FPS piles of crap. These series could have been some of the best the world had ever seen. Now they will go on the shelves of “what could have been” as the Mass Effect trilogy will never be fixed and even if DA3 makes a MASSIVE MASSIVE turn around back to the original for DA3, the series will still be in the “what could have been”because DA2 is sitting FAT in the middle. If you are a fan of RPG’s which real mature content and rewarding game play then play Mass Effect, it will not disappoint. Mass Effect only had a couple issues that if fixed would have made for unreal sequels (that &%^&%$& MAKO!) instead they trashed things like the mako to replace it with even crappier mechanics like the planet scan, my oh my...Mass Effect 1 is clearly the best RPG M for Mature theme based game of the series; if you however are one of the ADHD COD children who have to have no brain activity and more bullets flying, then you might find 2 or even 3 to be better.
THIS GAME IS WORTH: FULL PRICE (for just Mass Effect) or $20 (for the trilogy)
ASKING: Since the collapse that was ME3 they are selling “the trilogy” in attempts to try and sell more copies of 3 by placing it with 1 (RPG fans will buy it for this one) and 2 (FPS COD fan boys will buyit for this one) If you haven’t tried the series and want to give the whole thing a go the trilogy can be bought for $40 now used. Mass Effect however is one of the greatest RPG experiences around and if you just wanted to get a copy of it you can easily pick one up for under $10.
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE (for just Mass Effect) NOT WORTH IT (for the Trilogy Pack-I would wait until you could get it for $20 or less…)
freaking coolest thing I have ever seen on consoles to DATE) was making the achievements in this game actually worth something. Not only do you get some Gamerscore (worthless to most) you will gain permanent passive strengths for completing said achievements. Examples being you get an achievement for spending a lot of time with the soldier in your group and the achievement grants you a 10% reduction in overall damage… HOW FREAKING COOL! The achievements became an actual passive skill tree that you could then increase your overall power by doing said achievement- so freaking smart. This fact ALONE made the replay value of the first installment the best of the series HANDS DOWN. This game is set up
like a first person (over the shoulder, like Gears of War/ Army of Two) with active cover taking a large role (like Gears of War/Army of Two/Rainbow; Las Vegas, etc) and the RPG elements of this game are not dumbed down. They do get dumbed down at about the same proportion as Dragon Age Origins to Dragon Age 2 to this game Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2. The difference in this case being
that they turned it more into a FPS and less into an actual RPG, and they turned it into a decent FPS. This meant that they lost (in Mass Effect 2) a large group of the RPG fans (I have to admit I did enjoy the RPG mature feel of Mass Effect more than the FPS teenager feel of ME2), but they seemed to gain a decent size of FPS fans in the process, so the effect was not as visible as it was from DA to DA2. When they took the RPG out when creating DA2, the game became a “button masher”- and not even a decent button masher at that- so they lost almost their entire base and gained no new base. Mass Effect 3 tried to add a little bit more RPG in the
3rdinstallment back in (trying to rekindle their lost base that loved the 1stinstallment, while still keeping their new FPS base from the 2nd) which was almost like salt in the wound. The RPG that they DID add was very basic and just made the RPG gamer drop a few tears in “what could have been moments”. The third installment (even with the new extended ending) does not do the series justice in the slightest because of the terrible closing this game delivered. That being said, the game play AS WELL as the story in number 3
was WORLDS better than ME2 ever delivered, except for the ending. If ME3 had NOT had an ending and just said “to be continued” (stupid right?)- THAT would have been better than what it had. If the ending would have been better it would have trumped ME2 easily in every single fascist. It would have not however been a better RPG experience than the 1st, which clearly set the tone for the series. It is a shame that what made ME and DA great was abandoned in their sequels for cash grabs attempts at ADHD-button mashing-FPS piles of crap. These series could have been some of the best the world had ever seen. Now they will go on the shelves of “what could have been” as the Mass Effect trilogy will never be fixed and even if DA3 makes a MASSIVE MASSIVE turn around back to the original for DA3, the series will still be in the “what could have been”because DA2 is sitting FAT in the middle. If you are a fan of RPG’s which real mature content and rewarding game play then play Mass Effect, it will not disappoint. Mass Effect only had a couple issues that if fixed would have made for unreal sequels (that &%^&%$& MAKO!) instead they trashed things like the mako to replace it with even crappier mechanics like the planet scan, my oh my...Mass Effect 1 is clearly the best RPG M for Mature theme based game of the series; if you however are one of the ADHD COD children who have to have no brain activity and more bullets flying, then you might find 2 or even 3 to be better.
THIS GAME IS WORTH: FULL PRICE (for just Mass Effect) or $20 (for the trilogy)
ASKING: Since the collapse that was ME3 they are selling “the trilogy” in attempts to try and sell more copies of 3 by placing it with 1 (RPG fans will buy it for this one) and 2 (FPS COD fan boys will buyit for this one) If you haven’t tried the series and want to give the whole thing a go the trilogy can be bought for $40 now used. Mass Effect however is one of the greatest RPG experiences around and if you just wanted to get a copy of it you can easily pick one up for under $10.
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE (for just Mass Effect) NOT WORTH IT (for the Trilogy Pack-I would wait until you could get it for $20 or less…)
Borderlands I and II
I actually liked the 1st game better- THERE I SAID IT! Actually my wife liked the first better as well… The storyline (which everyone says gets better in the 2nd) for us actually got worse! They spend the entire game killing off everyone from the first game while not getting facts straight from one to the other (such as Bloodwing being a male in the first game and all of the sudden is a female in number 2… yikes!) That aside I am a strong believer in “sometimes less is more” when it comes to storylines. Gear of War 2 was no different for me. The sparse storyline in Gear of War 1 was far more gripping for me than the “too much story” that was found in Gears of War 2. The guns/stats/and leveling up was complicated from Borderlands 1 to 2 as well which means your wives will have a harder time keeping up. Both games are FPS that are heavy in their RPG elements; leveling up, heavy randomized loot grinding, etc. The Claptraps and sparse storyline in Borderlands are priceless, but are not why you keep playing. You keep playing for the loot and the level. Borderlands 2 attempts to go Shrek 3 (every line has to somehow be funny… trying way too hard to be funny and by so doing making it less enjoyable) with its storyline but still keeps the leveling and heavy randomized loot grinding. This is also a four player CO-OP game, which allows for maximum fun! The game also comes with the ability to system link which GREATLY increases its appeal and how much we enjoyed it; Ashley and I have two networked tv’s side by side. If you can network two tv’s and have two xbox’s you need to get this game!
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: FULL PRICE (the Game of the Year Versions) or $20 (for the normal versions)
ASKING: You can find copies of the Game of the Year versions for under $20 now at amazon.com
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE (for Game of the Year versions) Don’t Bother (with the normal versions)
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: FULL PRICE (the Game of the Year Versions) or $20 (for the normal versions)
ASKING: You can find copies of the Game of the Year versions for under $20 now at amazon.com
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE (for Game of the Year versions) Don’t Bother (with the normal versions)
Army of Two I and II
Great FPS co-op games for 2! You can only play these games with 2 player co-op, but they are well worth it. If they had system link they would be priceless! They do not have system link however so you must use xbox live or split screen. The game is an over the shoulder FPS that allows you (as you are mercenaries) to buy and upgrade and personalize your weapons that you use on mission. There are a lot of coop actions and elements in this game, from having to help each other up on to ledges to going “back to back” and firing bullets at everyone around you. The storyline is simple, but not bad enough to stifle the game play, and the gameplay is top notch. If these games had system link they would easily be pushing 5/5!
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: $30 (There really is no good “Game of the Year” versions of either of these)
ASKING: You can find copies of these games for nothing now, less than $10 used at amazon.com
OVERALL VALUE: Decent Value
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: $30 (There really is no good “Game of the Year” versions of either of these)
ASKING: You can find copies of these games for nothing now, less than $10 used at amazon.com
OVERALL VALUE: Decent Value
Brink
Getting a lot of bad press because of the early lag problems with online play, this game was never given the chance that it deserved. Not played for its storyline (as there really is none…) the game is played for its co-op play and evolving missions. You can play as one of multiple classes in the game from soldier to medic, and they all have their own responsibilities during the missions. Medics obviously heal, while soldiers can restock your ammo and so on with each class having its own abilities. A mission will have a side that is attacking and one that is basically just defending. The attacking team needs to fulfill their objectives before time runs out while the defending team just needs to keep them from doing just that. Example being 1. Hack a door (which only the “operative” class can do) 2. Plant a charge on safe (only “soldiers” can plant charges) and 3. Return contents of safe to boat (anyone can do this). The character you play as is 100% customizable allowing you to make him look however you wish, which is fun to say the least. Your guns can also have mod’s to your liking to compliment whatever class you choose. This game allows for up to 8 players coop vs 8 bots (computer controlled enemies) or pvp 8v8. Sadly this game does not have system link which would have upped its value. The game needed a bit more customization (allowing you to play as a woman would have been cool?) gun mods and gun weapon skins. The game also needed a tune up on its guns and scopes with how they acted in combat as some were underpowered and never got used. (sniper rifles way underpowered…needed to be fixed and scopes needed a tune up) If they had done that this game would have been a 5/5 for me as the storyline wasn’t why I was playing a tactical RT FPS.
THIS GAME IS WORTH: $40 (There really is no good “Game of the Year” versions of this game or DLC)
ASKING: You can find copies of this game for nothing now, less than $10 used
OVERALL VALUE: Good Value
THIS GAME IS WORTH: $40 (There really is no good “Game of the Year” versions of this game or DLC)
ASKING: You can find copies of this game for nothing now, less than $10 used
OVERALL VALUE: Good Value
Gears of War I-III
My favourite FPS series to date. Over the shoulder view a lot like Army of Two, these games blow me away. The first installment only has 2 player co-op but the later installment has 4 player co-op. After the first game you can also have different difficulties for each person playing- meaning I can play on Hardcore while Ashley plays with me on “Normal”. The game also does system link for all three- AWESOME AWESOME! Then tack on that 2 and 3 have“horde mode” which is like “Nazi zombies on major steroids” that you can actually WIN! These game have it all, the best FPS coop experience money can buy is right here. If you are a fan of intense FPS without the RPG elements, just pure storytelling FPS action, than these are MUST PLAYS! The story follow Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad as they try to stop humanity's annihilation from the Locust (underground beings that are tunneling to the surface) the story is amazing, the game play is even better, and the graphics are using Unreal engine which is one of my all-time favourite engines. Bottom line? Two lancers up…
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: FULL PRICE (I would go as far as to say that each copy is worth full price and you can get great triple packs now)
ASKING: You can find copies of the individual games with some DLC for less than 10$ each, and they are selling tipple packs now for under $40
OVERALL VALUE: NO EXCUSE VALUE (for individual games or the triple pack) and TERRIBLE VALUE (for Gears of War; Judgement- the prequel to the series…wouldn’t buy this for $10, maybe $5?)
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: FULL PRICE (I would go as far as to say that each copy is worth full price and you can get great triple packs now)
ASKING: You can find copies of the individual games with some DLC for less than 10$ each, and they are selling tipple packs now for under $40
OVERALL VALUE: NO EXCUSE VALUE (for individual games or the triple pack) and TERRIBLE VALUE (for Gears of War; Judgement- the prequel to the series…wouldn’t buy this for $10, maybe $5?)
Left 4 Dead I and II
This game is what “Nazi Zombies” of COD fails to be; an amazing co-op zombie killing time! The game is 4 player total co-op with you playing as one of four survivors who are trying to make it from “safe house” to safe house and then ultimately to safety. These games are FPS that are fun to play, will make you laugh shout and groan as you and your friends try to claw your way to the next safe house. The end of each “scenario” has a “Alamo-like” standoff where you must hold of waves of enemies while you wait for a boat to show up, a chopper to show up, etc etc, which is a blast. At the end game there are also great stats that tell you everything from how many zombies were killed to who revived who the most. This game is easy to learn how to play and fun to master, great learning curve for both men and wives!
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: $40 (Hard to give them full price as there is lots of $$ in DLC and no real Game of the Year versions… Makes for a harder sell)
ASKING: You can find copies of the individual games for around $20 each, (for some reason their value hasn’t dropped much in many years) and they are selling the DLC for $10 each.
OVERALL VALUE: Decent Value
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: $40 (Hard to give them full price as there is lots of $$ in DLC and no real Game of the Year versions… Makes for a harder sell)
ASKING: You can find copies of the individual games for around $20 each, (for some reason their value hasn’t dropped much in many years) and they are selling the DLC for $10 each.
OVERALL VALUE: Decent Value
Everything Halo
Halo was built around co-op. Maybe not so much for wives as much as it was for “bro time” every single one of these games were made, designed, and marketed for that said purpose. From the humble beginnings of the FPS Halo to the RTS of Halo Wars, every single game boasts a co-op experience and story worth playing. If not wife and husband, than husband and son, son and daughter, THE WHOLE FAMILY! Some of the Halo series do boast a 4 player co-op which means everyone can get in on the fun. If you are not familiar with FPS’s than Halo is where you need to start. The controls are easier, the combat is easier, overall experience is easier- and FPS’s can and WILL be challenging the first times playing! You will be running into walls and falling off ledges and doing some dumb stuff! Halo has a great learning curve as you have plenty of room to explore and move and get used to the FPS world, and don’t have to worry about “FALLING DAMAGE” that was added into latter FPS for maximum pissed off and “THIS IS STUPID! I die from falling off two steps? STUPID!” affect… These games are based on an amazing storyline that involves super human soldiers known as “Spartans” and also have amazing soundtracks in each and every game. Bottom line is that these games are and will forever remain classics in the coop world long after other FPS’s have died away after their online crowd has moved on. Play Halo.
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: FULL PRICE (So many games here and some are worth less than FULL PRICE, but overall, the whole series as a whole is hard to ignore as a powerhouse…)
ASKING: You can find copies of some the individual games for less than 10$ each, other newer games are still around 30-40$ range. You can also get Halo Re-mastered for less than 20$ now, no excuse not to get that- they did an amazing job with it.
OVERALL VALUE: NO EXCUSE VALUE (Some of the series such as Halo Wars and Halo ODST might be lower on some peoples scale, but like I said, OVERALL the series needs to be played as such- still one of THE most amazing sci-fi stories of all time.
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: FULL PRICE (So many games here and some are worth less than FULL PRICE, but overall, the whole series as a whole is hard to ignore as a powerhouse…)
ASKING: You can find copies of some the individual games for less than 10$ each, other newer games are still around 30-40$ range. You can also get Halo Re-mastered for less than 20$ now, no excuse not to get that- they did an amazing job with it.
OVERALL VALUE: NO EXCUSE VALUE (Some of the series such as Halo Wars and Halo ODST might be lower on some peoples scale, but like I said, OVERALL the series needs to be played as such- still one of THE most amazing sci-fi stories of all time.
Rainbow Vegas I and II
I have to put these games up here- these games are what made me fall in love with FPS to begin with. They were like better versions of Ghost Recon (also liked those games but the only one to ever really get me to drool over was the pc version where you would build you squads and tell each squad what to do while you controlled only one of them- and if someone was KIA, they didn’t come back!)These games are what gave rise to Army of Two and Gears of War. The over the shoulder tactical take cover, flank, and think about what you are doing systems. These games started it all. Without these games you only have the run, duck, dive, knife, run, quick scope, spin shooting death skill less systems of CoD to deal with- NO THANK YOU!
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: $40
ASKING: You can find copies of the individual games for around $5 each, (for some reason their value dropped very fast… Hahaha
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE
THESE GAME ARE WORTH: $40
ASKING: You can find copies of the individual games for around $5 each, (for some reason their value dropped very fast… Hahaha
OVERALL VALUE: GREAT VALUE