I meant to get this review out sooner but I wanted to put the game through a few more paces.

So, the renowned Modern Warfare series gets a third iteration and at that it should be the last one. Both previous games got great reviews so one should expect the same from this one as well.

With these games, a lot of people decide to play the multiplayer first and sometimes only. However, I always play the game's single player first.

As such, let's get the story out of the way. I was a little foggy on the previous games story as I had not played it for quite awhile. However, this game allowed me to figure things out pretty easily. Saying that, anyone knew to the series would have no idea on what is exactly going on. This happened to me when playing Modern Warfare 2 before playing the first one. But, at the end of the game you get the general jist anyways.

The controls throughout the game are what you would expect from a game of this caliber. They are a little different from other FPS games I have been playing recently but they didn't take long at all to get used to.

Graphics seem unchanged in my opinion. They might be a little bit better but I really can't compare side by side as I do not own the previous game. That isn't to say they are bad though. I really couldn't find any complaints about the graphics.

Now, most people get Modern Warfare for the multiplayer. And, the multiplayer is pretty expansive. There is the standard multiplayer and the Spec Ops. I tend to spend more of my time with Spec Ops.

Spec Ops has two game modes, survivor and objectives. Both modes have to players fighting side by side. Survivor just has you fighting wave after wave of enemies. This mode is a lot of fun and really gets difficult the further you get. If you want to get far you are eventually going to have to come up with some strategy. The only downside to it in my opinion is that the waves really don't change all that much. They might spawn at different locations but you can expect the same enemies every game.

Objectives are familiar to me from Modern Warfare 2 which I played a lot with my cousins. There are a lot of them and you unlock more after reaching certain levels. These offer to fine tune your skills so that you can complete the task with the best time.

Then you get to the normal multiplayer. There is a lot of game modes in this so I am not going to go through them all. Some have objectives like blow up or protect things from being blown up, capturing flags, and the normal kill everybody that isn't on your team. I mostly play Team Deathmatch but Kill Confirmed might be an even better mode. Kill Confirmed requires your team to collect killed opponents dog tags to get the point.

Like most FPS games these days, the more you play online the more you level up, and the more you unlock stuff. I won't go to far in to detail on this as most should already know about it.

There are a lot of things to like about MW3. However, I have found a lot of things to not like and they mainly stem from the multiplayer. My biggest problem is lag. This wasn't much of a problem when I first started playing but just recently it has gotten real bad. I have played games where everyone is in the green and the lag just became to much to continue to playing.

My next huge grumble is that things just don't add up. I have heard similar complaints from others so I know it isn't just me. I will shoot about 10 rounds into an opponent. This is enough to kill them. However, I mysteriously die and when I watch the kill cam I don't get a single round off. Probably stems from a smaller amount of lag, I don't know but it still pisses me off. I don't care if I die but if the other person should be dieing on my screen they should be dead.

Finally, there is the funny habit of people dieing behind objects. I start getting rounds pumped into me so I run behind something. I am out of view(and I know I am from the kill cam) but rounds magically bend in midflight to find me.

Overall, I can't complain to much. Single player is awesome with a somewhat overused but still interesting ending. The multiplayer is actually fun when you get past all the stupid stuff that happens occasionally even if it is worse than any other FPS multiplayer I have experienced. I really suggest you Play This Game. You will always find a match even if it takes a bit and hopefully some of these lag problems are fixed and the multiplayer will be all that more enjoyable.

Here it is, the debut Trailer for Grand Theft Auto V. V is for 5 just in case you didn't know.

They even had the trailer available before the release but had a countdown timer on it before you actually play it.

I'll let you view before I give any opinions or details on it. Hate to spoil it for you.

Below is the video. The above is just an image. Just in case you get confused.

I love destruction! Usually destruction entails explosives. I love explosives! For that "real" job of mine I work with explosives at times. 

When a game does destruction, it is usually a hit for me. It is one of the reason I like RTS games as they usually entail blowing shit up. Remember Red Alert 2 and the Nuke. Ahhhhhh yeahhhhh...

Anyways, one of the latest Videos for Battlefield 3 does destruction. It does explosions. It blows a tunnel to my heart. 

Check out this video if you dig explosive destruction and/or Battlefield 3.

The final installment to the Gears of War trilogy. If you haven't played any of the gears, let me sum it up. An alien race called the locust have been inhabiting the earth, they recently began surfacing and the government is trying to put an end to it. They strive on a natural resource called emulsion, a.k.a an abundant radioactive fuel source. And that's where the COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments) come in. They kick ass and chew bubble gum!

COG's Delta Squad is comprised of:

Marcus Fenix (Fenix) the serious bread and butter main character

Dominic Santiago (Dom) Marcus's best friend and ally

Augustus Cole (Cole Train) an over the top thunder ball player

Damon Baird (Baird) pyrotechnic, computer geek, comic relief

Anya Stroud (Anya) the bitch from the previous game that told us what to do

Man wearing helmet, think of him like you think of Kenny from South Park.

The story starts you out in a vision or dream, which ends up being more of a tutorial on how to fire and dodge. Marcus hears his father talking and everything starts to get swallowed up into a swirling vertex.

After the unusual introduction sudo tutorial the game picks up. A brief exploration of a ship then you are thrown into the fire. The first thing I noticed is the precision in aiming. It's no Call of Duty but it was a complete overhaul from the previously released tittles. I was overjoyed that you can aim for an enemies face and actually have a chance of instantly killing it. I was gitty from the controller down.

As you progress you come into contact with a handful of new enemies. These enemies are referred to as lambent. The lambent creatures are a mutated form of locust that have taken on emulsion. The first addition is a large vine that will pop out of the ground. The vine grows pods that give birth to lambent enemies. The idea is to shoot the pods before you become overrun. The second type of enemy have bright glowing areas on their bodies which is obviously their week points. Upon destroying lambent they will explode. Some of them even hunt you down and jump on you before they explode. I have died a lot from these damn things.

The beginning of the game is in two sections Cole's perspective and Marus's perspective. You switch back and forth between teams and replay the same moment but different location. I have to say this section was choreographed quite well. The game does bring the two ill fated teams together again, so your not reliving experiences the whole game.

You are given a encrypted video of Marcus's father which Baird promptly de-encrypts. What? Marcus's father is alive? I thought he died in the locust war? Hmm.. After hearing the good news Marcus sets out to rescue his father.

The main drive for the story line is the Delta Squad aiding Marcus in his quest to save his father. Did I mention his father is a genius and can save the human race? The frame story of the game is Dom seeking vengeance for the unfortunate events that lead up to his wife's death.

Throughout the game you will stumble upon some bad ass weaponry. These weapons are used to turn the tides in battle against the locust and the lambent. One of the first weapons you get is a one man mech, it can sprint, jump, fire missiles, and has a high powered machine gun. Other weapons include a portable Gatling gun which is of the spray and pray variety. A two person Gatling gun which one person holds the amo box and the second destroys everything in his/her path, much stronger stopping power then the one man Gatling gun. A large rusty two handed steel sword, it slices, it dices, it decapitates! A large battle shield, used in tough situations to hide from a rain of bullets. And my favorite, the one shot sniper rifle, one shot kills just about anything ANYTHING! As with any of the weapons mentioned you mobility is drastically slowed down. Unfortunately, the larger weapons cannot be carried past well placed barricades that the player must leap over to progress the story.

As you play through the story the game does test your ability quite a bit, especially on hardcore difficulty. There are several unique enemy encounters, one of which is an emulsion infused berserk-er that spews radioactive emulsion everywhere and you can only shoot it as its running directly at you. Be prepared to play white mage with other players. Another remember-able encounter is a hedge hog looking enemy that is fast and can only be taken down with explosives. Of course these are normally found in a relatively close encounter area, where one has to use explosives.

I personally played system link co-op with a friend. You can also play cooperatively with a team of online players that take the position of the AI. It was interesting to suddenly see the AI take off in random directions and complete tasks for me. It was only after they cleared a room with more perfection then I had did I realize that some random strangers joined my battle against the locust.

There is a large handful of Easter eggs in the game if you are willing and out of the box crazy to find them. Including a gun that fires explosive chickens.

My general experiences with Gears of War 3 were above my expectations. The graphics have been revamped compared to the last two installments. The story line was very enjoyable, it had its moments of laughter, and its moments of tears. As far as character developments go for FPS games the Gears of War series is top notch. The second hardest difficulty that I chose did not keep me from enjoying the game. I would defiantly play Gears of War 3 again on the hardest unlocked difficulty. If you had a game to spend a weekend on I would highly recommend giving this a rental. If you can spend hours upon hours just killing lambent and locust I would recommend buying Gears of War 3 for its horde 2.0 mode. Horde 2.0 is just that, a multiplayer experience where you survive wave after wave of the best the game has to throw at you.

-Aaron-

I was a little late with playing the first portal (about three years after it came out) but when I did play it I was saddened when it ended. I wanted the experience to continue because it had been a long time since I and a lot of other people I imagine had played a game with such innovation and with such and original idea. so when I heard portal 2 was coming out I jumped at the opportunity with much enthusiasm and I must say I was not disappointed.

When I got home with this game and unwrapped it the first thing I did was grabbed a friend against his will and made him play co op with me. Co op was something when I first heard about it did not know how to take it. Would it be one person gets one portal each or two? How much “co op” was gonna be actually going on? Was it going to have some sort of story or was it just puzzle? Well the answer to those questions came with the first couple of minuets of playing. Each character you play as (two robots one named ATLAS and the other P-body) each get two portals each one with orange and red and the other purple and blue. The first level made it very clear your going to have to actually play along with and communicate with the other person your playing with because if you do not it will get very aggravating very quickly. Also you actually do get rated in a way to tell you how well you worked together but I am not quite sure how it figured the score. Now as for story I would have to say there was one but there wasn’t. Pretty much you are playing as two robots (ATLAS and P-body) who work under GLaDOS (which is short for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) and most of the levels are just using the robots as test subjects but every once in a while you go to the outside world to do a seemingly menial task with some hilarious dialog from GLaDOS . Now I won't ruin the ending but it is kind of  predictable but all in all it is still quite humorous.

So after beating co op twice I decided it might be a good idea to actually try the main story and although not as fun as co op in my opinion it is still quite fun and can be challenging in parts. The game play is just like the first one in ways with a few added elements and quite a bit longer. Some of the more notable entries to the game were the addition of the two types of goo. The blue goo was a bouncy goo that when you jump it makes you go higher and also you continue to bounce unless you crouch. The orange goo made you run really fast. These added with a few more challenges and more of a story then the last game made this game a lot more interesting. The story itself you have to play to actually understand but I will just say that your playing as the same person from the first game, you meet familiar faces along with new faces, the dialog can still arguably be the best part of the game, and there are quite a bit of plot twist and unexpected moments that make you go “what the” and make you laugh.

So with co op being online and offline, some very fun brain challenging “keep you on your toes” levels, and some hilarious moments that I soon wont forget I will have to say even if you never played the first make sure you pick this game up.

Duke is finally back. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play it yet. I want to but the money isn't there. Yes, I run a gaming website. But, we are not that popular and we are not bringing in any money right now.

However, the reviews are less than stellar. Actually, the scores are much lower than the Duke 3D. Some are shocked as the game has been in development for so long so they were expecting an awesome game. However, times have changed. Gamers expect a lot more. They don't want just a crass hero. They want awesome graphics. Awesome gameplay. Awesome storyline. Let's be frank, we can't expect all of that from Duke. Duke is about blowing shit up and throwing singles at girls with some bad ass one liners.

My thoughts are still unsure. I don't expect an amazing game. I don't expect a terrible game. What am I looking for? I am looking for the same Duke as old. Lots of shooting. Lots of blowing stuff up. Lots of weird ass aliens. Lots of scantily clad female pixels. And overall, I am here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, but I am all out of bubble gum.

Before I say anything personal, today there was the pre E3 press conference. So of course, Microsoft had its turn. That is all, for that nonsense for now.

The big news, there is going to be a Halo 4. There was even a trailer. Could be good. But, could be bad.

Now, I will admit. When the Halo franchise was first conceived, I really didn't give it a second look. I think I didn't even play the first game until the second one came out. However, when I played it I loved it. 

After beating the first, I got into playing the second online at a couple of friends' houses. I really never played the single player. I did eventually but for whatever reason it just did not hit home with me. However, multiplayer was a blast. I think what did it for me was the greatness of the sticky grenade. 

Than along came Halo 3. Not a bad game. I felt it did improve on the second when it came to single player. And I will admit, I did have some fun with the multiplayer goodness. Actually, ask my old room mate and he might say I played it a little to much. 

Now, why would I be so pessimistic about the new Halo game. Well, the third one was okay but I never bought a 360 to play it. I played it because someone else provided the goods. I never really thought of it as a must own game. Also, it really wasn't that good considering first person shooters. I know, the franchise brought to use what the genre is now. However, it started to get to the point of beating a dead horse. I realize, that by saying it and still professing my love of FPS games is kind of hypocritical.

However, the FPS genre has evolved whether you like to admit it or not. In fact, I have much more fun playing KZ3(Killzone 3 for all you would be idiots out there) than I ever did Halo. I think FPS games today while being similar offer more routes to achieve the end goal.

I haven't played any Halo games since. ODST seemed like a big waste of money. I thought about trying Halo: Reach but couldn't justify buying a console for it. And I won't even mention Halo Wars.

So, I don't think it is going to be all that good. "Meh" is the word and I am sticking to it! If I am wrong, be sure to apply that sticky grenade to my ass while we are killing off my comrades.

Back in 1992 a fighting game came out in arcades that was highly controversial for its bloody and violent game play and it was getting a lot of attention from both the gamer side of the world and of course the parent side. This game was of course Mortal Kombat. I personally never got to play it in arcades but when it came to the Super Nintendo in 1993 I fell in love with the game and the fighting game genre altogether and I continued to play through all the sequels up to today.

Now I’m sure your don’t want to hear me talk on and on about the many sequels that it had so I will just forward 18 years to the newest release of the game which of course is just Mortal Kombat. I was excited to play this game from the second I heard about it and after playing it I must say I am not disappointed.

So like its predecessors before it this MK has the stuff you would come to expect from the game such as a plethora of characters each with there own unique fighting styles, special moves, and of course fatalities. The actual fighting itself is smooth and fast paced and the ability to create your own combos is a nice added bonus. They also brought back the krypt which of course means there is a huge amount of unlockables which you of course you can...unlock with a in game currency called Koins(yeah don’t know why the developers have a love for the letter K over the letter C but to each there own). These unlockables can range anywhere from artwork, character designs, alternate costumes, and of course secret fatalities. Now we're talking hundreds of unlockables here which can be a bit overwhelming but if your a game perfectionist like myself then your up for the challenge.

The two major parts of this game are the story mode and the challenge tower. The story itself follows Raiden and the rest of the fighters from the first tournament where they have to face the old Shang Tsung up to Shao Kahn taking over earth realm as it is called. The actual story in a somewhat non spoiler kind of way is just the following of how Raiden sees a vision of the future and his future self is saying “he must win” with this in mind he must find out what he was talking about and find out who must win in order to save the future. Now the story line was not bad for a fighting game as in there is an actual story line that explains what the heck is going on but in my opinion the cake of this game is the challenge tower. To explain the challenge tower briefly is I believe 300 different challenges that range from the usual defeat this enemy to pressing button repeatedly and try to break bricks to some of the most absurd things like fight with no arms, you bleed rainbows, your constantly slowing down, and don’t forget defeat Mileena with Scorpion cause she is trying to give you a teddy....and when your as awesome as Scorpion you don’t take teddy from no one.

I could go on all day about why you should play this game but in the end all I am saying is GO PLAY THIS GAME....don’t make me send Scorpion on you ^_^