[Games] Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS3)

So I totally fell in love with the PS3 port of Diablo III when it came out given what a delightful console experience it is. And for a guy who has played most of the games in the Dynasty Warriors series because of a love of games with local co-op options, the entry of Diablo III into the market turned out to be a most welcome one.

And now Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is finally out for consoles, typically packaged in what they're calling the Ultimate Evil Edition that comes bundled with the original game. Even before the release of the PS3 version, I was pretty curious as to how they'd release this expansion. The easy route would have been to just focus on some sort of massive DLC update that would bring the game up to speed. But I'm kind of glad how they implemented the physical version of the game.

The decision to bundle the expansion with the original game though just shows that the added content wasn't exactly all that significant in terms of disc usage and such. But it's still a heck of a lot of fun and what it seems to lack in terms of added story it makes up for in added gameplay.

[Games] The Cave (PS3)

My participation in the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter certainly helped me become very aware of the company and its various projects. And while I typically try wait for a game to be on sale before buying it, picking up a virtual copy of The Cave was just too tempting given all the geeky hype that had built up around the game.

The Cave is rather clever given it's a puzzle platform game, similar to old classics like The Lost Vikings. And it was a game created by the great (and grumpy?) Ron Gilbert , the same man behind games like Monkey Island. And so I took the plunge and bought the game at retail via the PlayStation Network - one of my few online purchases via PSN.

And hey, it's a great game. That much is clear.

[Games] LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (PS3)

Looking over our collection of PS3 games, it's pretty obvious that there's a LEGO fan in the house. In terms of our home, Sietch Creare, that person would be me. Tobie had his LEGO period as well, of course, but I could refine the statement and say that there's a major fan of the LEGO-based video games.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is an attempt to apply the LEGO formula to another George Lucas creation - the Indiana Jones movies. I suppose it was an easy enough transition given their success with the Star Wars games, but I wasn't totally sold on how popular this franchise would be among younger audiences. And these games typically go for that particular market.

But the game was still a decent amount of fun, although it did not make it to the mandatory achievement trophy requirement for the PlayStation Network. Still, I worked my way through the game and decided to formally review it today.

[Games] LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (PS3)

I've been a big fan of the different LEGO games as evidenced by my game purchases over the years. And as much as the games are highly formulaic and perhaps even repetitive for some, they're also lovely puzzle platformers. And with the many different franchise deals that LEGO has struck with other brands, this has certainly resulted in some pretty interesting games as a result.

Hot on the heels of LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes, we have Marvel stepping up to the LEGO plate to see what success they could have in the game genre. And I have to admit, the result is pretty impressive and a celebration of more than just the Marvel Cinematic Universe characters.

And while it's hard to pick any one LEGO game as some sort of a "favorite" or something like that, but LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is definitely a pretty solid game that was a lot of fun to play through and perhaps a contender for that title.

And even though I've already finished the primary story stages, I'm still playing through the game in an attempt to get myself up to 100%. But that's LEGO games for you.

[Games] Warriors Orochi 3 (PS3)

I know I don't post as many PS3 game reviews on this blog, which is funny given how many games we have at home. I suppose we just end up being too busy playing sad games, thus I end up forgetting to review them entirely. And I say "we" since I've already established that Tobie and I are major junkies for local co-op games as opposed to relying on online network players. Let's face it, if you and your partner live together, who else would you choose to play console games with, right?

And there are few companies that satisfy our button-mashing local co-op needs quite like Koei and it's various games. Case in point is Warriors Orochi 3, the craziest of their franchises that combines their Dynasty Warriors characters together with their Samurai Warriors characters in a story that never really makes sense. But that doesn't really matter since you're not exactly to learn history - you're here to kill hordes and hordes of enemies!

[Games] Diablo III (PS3)

Back in the day, I got to try out the PlayStation port of the original Diablo. It was a weird and painful experience given how tricky it was to manage your skills and combat in general just with your controller. And while the 2-player cooperative mode was nice, it wasn't exactly a version of the game that went down in history or anything like that.

So when a PS3 port for Diablo III hit shelves, I was initially skeptical about the experience. But then again, Tobie and I lack computers that can handle the PC version of the game, so getting a PS3 disc seemed like a much cheaper alternative so we could play the game.

And the end result was...actually rather brilliant. And given how Tobie and I tend to favor local cooperative play games, this stands out as a pretty good addition to the collection. More than a good local co-op adventure, the game is a pretty good adaptation of the PC version as well. And that's a pretty impressive feat as well.

[Games] Dragon's Crown (PS3)

Tobie and I lead rather busy lives. Between work, gaming and taking care of our dog, there really isn't as much time for leisure activities as we'd like. Our console gaming time is fairly limited, but as of late a lot of our free time has been dedicated to playing Dragon's Crown.

For those who have read my past PS3 game reviews, you'd know that we have a certain affinity for games that include local cooperative play options. Not every game gets this done right, but every now and then some games just shine. And as much as Tobie and I are rather content with the senseless button-mashing of various Koei games like Dynasty Warriors, this does not mean that we don't have standards. We're just after a particular game experience.

And this game is amazingly brilliant on so many levels. Given the struggle to get this game actually published, it's nice to see that the end result was a most entertaining game. And yes, we're still playing through the darn thing and we're bound to try to get through it all again on the harder difficulty modes.

[Games] Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (PS3)

I had long delayed getting a copy of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron since (1) new games are more expensive and (2) the gameplay wasn't exactly my favorite. I've never been one for shooters in general and no matter how you dress is up, that's what this game is.

However I love the Transformers too much not to even consider getting the game. Plus I was pretty curious about the story and the fact that the game has received such high reviews within the gaming circuit. that says a lot for what is essentially yet another effort by Hasbro to make money off of this property.

But despite my challenges with the game genre, I still had a lot of fun and I actually finished the game on single player mode. I've yet to really explore the multiplayer options (especially given I have so limited time to play), so I'll probably go back to this review once I've done that in order to round things out.

For now, let's focus on the solo missions...

[Games] LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (PS3)

This morning Disney announced that they are acquring Lucasfilm for about $4 billion. Plus they've also announced that an Episode 7 Star Wars movie is due to be released in 2015. But at this point I really don't want to comment too much on this new article while speculations are running far too high for comfort.

So instead, I'm reviewing this game since I'm pretty much done with it save for completing all the bonus stuff.

I'm a pretty big fan of the various LEGO games, so naturally this latest expansion still works for me. Regardless of what franchise is involved, the various LEGO games run on similar puzzle gaming principles, thus creating for a relatively consistent gaming experience across titles. This may or may not be a great thing depending on how much you enjoy what is essentially the same game over and over again.

And this geek definitely enjoys this type of gameplay. But more importantly, I felt this edition actually added a lot of interesting new features to update the overall LEGO play experience for the console market.

[Games] Rayman Origins (PS3)

I've had mixed experienced with platform games dating all the way back to the Super Mario Brothers era. They're certainly fun, I'll admit that, but they eventually reach a point when the skill level proves a bit to challenging for me and the fun gives way to frustration until I eventually quit the game.

Thus cooperative play platform games have always felt like a decent compromise. You still get that mix of fun and challenge that we all associate with platform games but the addition of friends playing along leads to a bit of a safety net of sorts. Now when you're near death another player might be able to do something to save you at the last moment. Or at the very least you have someone to talk to as you all try to figure out the stage's puzzles together and all that good stuff.

And thus my fascination with local co-op games versus network co-op games. I really like to be able to be in the same room with the people I play with since you get a lot of side banter that never perfectly translates well to the network experience and of course you eliminate any possibilities of latency and such.

And so we get to this particular game, something right out of the classic console era. And man it's such a fun game.

[Games] Journey (PS3)

For the most part I think we all feel that we have a firm grasp of how video games work. Every game has a clear objective that the player has to achieve. This could be anything really - solving a murder-mystery, killing hordes of zombies or performing a cool guitar solo. There are games for almost every purpose all following this general format.

And then we get to the stranger games developed by the likes of Thegamecompany, the folks behind games like Flow and Flower. Both games focused on the experience instead of the "end" as an objective. Flow could go on forever as long as you were happy growing your creature and eating smaller ones. Flower was simply beautiful, with all these different secrets to be uncovered with every play-through.

And that brings us to their latest creation - Journey. And man, what a game this has been for me!

[Gaming] The Dearth of Online Gaming Stores in Manila

I was recently contacted by a representative from Big W for possibly advertising opportunities on the Geeky Guide, which led me to checking out their site and enjoying the Amazon-like nature of their business.

Online shopping is tremendously convenient when you get down to it and I'd totally go for something like that given the chance. And this is especially true for gaming options - I mean who wouldn't want to save on time visiting each and very branch of places like Data Blitz or something just to find the last copy of a game that you want?

In the Philippines, our online shopping options are severely limited. Sites like MyRegalo / MyAyala tend to be okay for the general stuff but for games and geekier items, we end up scouring places like the Multiply Marketplace and eBay.ph. And that works for the most part but it's not quite the same. And I know I'm just a frustrated online shopper with so few options here - I'd go nuts if Amazon ever established a proper shipping presence in the region.

You could point me in the direction of online services like Steam, but that doesn't help me find console games online (unlike finding PS3 Games by Big W, for example). And my partner and I are pretty into PS3 games, hence the reason we go to Data Blitz so much. And yes, I acknowledge that Sony also has their little online store, but the need to purchase the right store currency and the limitations of Philippine internet download speeds make me less than happy about that particular arrangement.

We're sort of lucky that Data Blitz has a store fairly near the house, but still doesn't address the opportunity for online sales in the country, or at least in the Metro. I'm sure there's a demand out there given how every other country has embraced eCommerce a lot more than we have. Heck, our fast food delivery systems are still catching up with the ease BIG W XBOX 360 games are ordered online over in Australia and delivered to homes easily enough.

Data Blitz already has a  good segment of the local gaming market and they certainly know how to effectively source and price console games to make it more desirable to buy form them versus most other stores. Whether it's PS3 Move controllers, XBOX 360 consoles or the collector's editions of new games, they do a pretty good job of sourcing quality goods and making sure their prices remain competitive.

So what can we do to petition Data Blitz, or any other stores like them, to brave the online waters and explore having an online store presence? Or are credit card adoption rates just too low in the country for this to be feasible? On a national average, I'm sure we're not quite there yet, but at the very least we should be able to manage something within Metro Manila, right?

Or maybe I'm aiming a bit too high.

[Games] Monopoly Streets (PS3)

Monopoly is clearly one of the world's oldest and most well-known games out there. For most people, no childhood could have been completely without have once played the game whether you owned the set yourself or otherwise.

These days Monopoly has evolved into an entire franchise of games based around the core concept including card games and of course video games.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this game at first - my old childhood was littered with traumatic Monopoly defeats mostly due to more skilled or perhaps just luckier family members. But all it took was a long game night with some friends that I haven't seen in a while to change my mind about things.

I guess part of the reasons that this game sort of works for me is the fact that it aggregates a lot of different Monopoly variants into a single console game. That provides for a respectable amount of flexibility and a lot of versatility for a single title.

But there are still times when the way the dice fall infuriates me to no end. Mr. Monopoly has it in for me, I just know it.

[Games] Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3)

I've been a fan of the Ratchet & Clank franchise since the very beginning - and this is despite my limited success with platformers. But for one reason or another, this series has always worked for me given its quirky humor, dynamic gameplay and challenging puzzles.

Earlier this year Sony released PlayStation Move Heroes, which got me rather excited since it promised to be a multiplayer platform game featuring some of the PlayStation's most iconic characters, including Ratchet & Clank. How the game turned out to be a bomb given the 2-player co-op involved the second player being strictly limited to being a supporting character / side-kick. Possibly fun, but not quite what I was hoping for.

So when this game came out, I was initially cautious about it. And while the initial reviews weren't unanimously praising the game, at its core it's a multiplayer co-op game, which became the main selling point of the game for me and my partner. While it's not exactly the most complex game genre for sure, we do find it to be a lot of fun and thus we're always on the look-out for local co-op games.

[Games] Dungeon Siege III (PS3)

It's rather difficult for some PC game franchises to make the transition over to the console market. You just don't have the same level of functionality the moment you take the keyboard out of the equation. And thus game designers are constantly challenged to figure out how to somewhat simplify the game to work with the console setup without taking too much away from the core gaming experience. It's a lot more difficult than it sounds, believe me.

One of the rare good examples of this is probably Civilization Revolution. It still managed to capture a lot of the rich depth of the various incarnations of the desktop version of the game while still keeping things manageable for the console gamer. Thus managing multiple cities, research projects and armies moving across the land still remained efficient and not too annoying an experience.

Now this was a clear attempt to translate a generally successful hack-and-slash PG game into a decent console version of the experience. On its own it's a pretty decent game but it tends to loose luster once you compare it back to the original games. And the fact that this same version of the game was not only distributed to consoles but was also ported back to the PC game market seemed like a bad idea. What we're left with is a game that could have done a whole lot more but instead barely managed to get past the finish line.

[Games] Dead Nation (PS3)

While I maintain an abstract appreciation for the horror genre at large and for zombies as part of that group, I've never been a fan. And the computer games that have capitalized on this segment of the market including all the survival / horror games that have been created over the years have certainly made a name for themselves, but generally never struck my fancy. But my partner is a big horror buff, as I've mentioned on this blog many times now, and so I've learned to appreciate the glorious undead a wee bit more since we started living together.

Another thing I've never really been good at would definitely be first person shooters. The games get me way too tense and that ruins my chances of surviving the level since I tend to panic. I hate the need to be constantly on the move and trying to adapt to new challenges. And I don't often enjoy competitive game play - I guess in that regard I practically hold up a little flag and ask if we all can't get along or something. This is why I favor local cooperative games versus the head-to-head / player versus player games, except maybe for real-time strategy. But even that's pushing the envelope.

Thus given the options made available as part of the PlayStation Network's Welcome Back program, this game did appear to be one of the better ones in the mix. I figured that if ever my partner could have a good time and it's a free game, so why complain right? And thus we made it one of our selections for the package - and then I can't quite explain what happened after.

[Games] LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3)

I now own a total of 7 LEGO-themed games for the PS3, at least by my last count. What can I say? I'm such a sucker for these games! I suppose the repetitive puzzle-solving nature of the games appeal to the logic centers in my brain or something. Plus LEGO humor is pretty amusing, at least for me.

And this collection of 7 also includes this latest foray into the LEGO Universe, this time by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. While I haven't exactly earned my sea legs when it comes to the Pirates fan groups, I'd like to think that I do share a healthy appreciation for the franchise, primarily because of my geek friends, and this is despite not really feeling the whole pirate genre as a kid. Probably the closest that I ever got to appreciating more of the genre was because of Marauder from the Robots in Time series, which featured an Asmovian robot escaping the authorities by going back in time. And this in book, the target robot hid in the age of pirates, thus providing a lot of relevant information on the pirate life. At least that's how it worked for a science fiction geek like me.

But like the Pirates movies, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. In fact, I'm pretty surprised how quickly the whole thing has gone and as of the time of this writing, I'm pretty much just finishing off all the secret bonus stuff, as is the pattern in any LEGO game. And if anything, I think it's safe to say that I'm just in the mop-up phase of my gaming time with about five trophies left for me to attain and a few more stages to play through in Free mode.

[Games] Dynasty Warriors 7 (PS3)

My partner and I are major fans of button-mashing local cooperative games. I guess we just like the generally simpler goals of such games that put more emphasis on the story and the cheese factor instead of making gameplay so complex that it crosses the line into being intimidating. In that regard I suppose we're pretty easy to please from a gaming perspective, although good local cooperative play games are somewhat few and far between on consoles like the PlayStation 3.

I suppose it's somewhat understandable. Your average gamer spends most of his time playing on his console alone, thus the easiest way for him or her to find other players to play with is to go online. Gone are the days that players routinely meet at a friend's house to play together. More often than not people just utilize whatever online options the game / console supports and then they go from there.

The Dynasty Warriors series has certainly been a guilty pleasure of are over the years. They practically invented the crazy button-mashing bonanza genre for more "modern" consoles. Although when you think about it, these games probably trace their origins back to classic titles like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. And that's never a bad thing.

[Games] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

The Metal Gear game franchise has been around since 1987 although most gamers probably best remember the game from its original PlayStation debut in the game Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes). And yes, I have to admit that I'm part of that group since I certainly never got my hands on the NES version nor did I ever have an MSX2 console unit, which is understandable since this was never really sold outside of Japan.

The franchise is best known for its mix of realistic military-style combat with a greater emphasis stealth and infiltration tactics. Many attribute the beginning of the entire stealth game genre to this franchise and it's understandable why the game has remained popular over the years and has triggered multiple sequels.

With almost ten games in the entire franchise, it's only natural that the developers attempted to sort of tie things up rather neatly in order to resolve the many different plot threads over the years. It's interesting to note that the game has managed to remain in a single story universe all this time and thus the universe of Metal Gear is definitely a very rich and fully-developed one. This game was designed to be the closing chapter to the entire franchise, although I expect they'll continue to develop new games set in-between the others should financial needs push them strongly enough.

[Games] Eternal Sonata (PS3)

Like most other console geeks, I have a more than healthy respect for the RPG genre of titles. While not necessarily for everyone, RPGs continue to provide a fun marriage between gaming and classic storytelling in a nicely dynamic way. They are major time sucks of course, but what good game is't that way, right?

One of the bigger challenges with RPGs is the fact that they're single-player games that certainly strain shared console time for multi-user homes. In our case, we tend to favor local cooperative play games since it means both my partner and I get to play instead of the typical RPG scenario where either one ends up watching the other or each person plays the game independently. The second solution rarely works - more often than not one runs into spoilers because of the use of a single console and that ultimately ruins the game for one or more of the users.

So when we found out that this game offered a limited multiplayer option despite being an RPG, my partner and I couldn't quite resist satisfying our curiosity about the game. But beyond this little novelty to the game system, the whole experience turned out to be a lot more enjoyable that we expected.