Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) (PS3)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009).

With a game as successful as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) (CoD:MW2), making over $1 billion within three months, the future of the Call of Duty franchise would be surely be guaranteed. However, that future would not include series creators Jason West and Vince Zampella. It’s a very infamous and well-documented story, but the short version is that West and Zampella wanted more creative control over Call of Duty (CoD) following Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s (CoD4) success, though Activision CEO Bobby Kotick included a loophole in the agreement that control would revert back to Activision if the duo were ever fired. Soon after, Activision did everything in their power through an internal campaign dubbed “Project Icebreaker” to find a reason to replace the duo during development of CoD:MW2, which included plans to stage a fake fire drill to copy Infinity Ward employee emails. After CoD:MW2 came out and proved a massive success, West and Zampella were fired after renegotiations fell through, with Activision accusing them of “insubordination”. About 40 of Infinity Ward’s employees, numbering around 100 at the time, would quit and leave with West and Zampella to form Respawn Entertainment, who would develop the Titanfall series in partnership with Electronic Arts before later being acquired wholly by EA and making both Apex Legends and the Star War Jedi series. In the meantime, however, Infinity Ward was in the midst of developing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (CoD:MW3), now put in jeopardy without the studio’s founders, and the publisher was in a legal battle over unpaid CoD:MW2 royalties. As such, Activision would seek assistance from Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software to help with development on CoD:MW3, which would see the light of day in late 2011.

That brings us to now, as I now finish my journey through the original Modern Warfare trilogy. I didn’t remember hearing too much from other people around the release of CoD:MW3, but I did remember hearing about the drama around West and Zampella (especially the fire drill story). I was already planning on playing CoD:MW3 to round out the trilogy, but after enjoying Infinity Ward’s work on CoD4 and CoD:MW2, even with whatever criticisms I may have expressed, my curiosity grew about how the studio would handle CoD without any involvement from its creators. Although Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward did their best given the situation, it’s impossible to ignore the effect of West and Zampella’s absence in the final product.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) (PS3)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The explosive success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4) would naturally justify production of a sequel, eventually confirmed and revealed as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (CoD:MW2). While I was in high school back in 2009, this was actually the first Call of Duty (CoD) game where I couldn’t escape discussion about it thanks to the massive hype surrounding it (even a teacher would mention playing it one time during a class discussion). Apart from hearing endless discussion about the multiplayer, however, I was mostly aware of one Mission, “No Russian”, due to its controversial content, which for years was the only thing I knew about CoD’s storytelling and knowingly out of context. Now, with much more knowledge about CoD than I had before, my approach is more informed by not only playing CoD4, which has an incredible campaign on its own, but also the knowledge that this was the last time that Infinity Ward would develop a CoD game with original creators Jason West and Vince Zampella still involved, a story that I’ll save for another time. For now, however, we celebrate this blog’s fifteenth anniversary with CoD:MW2, which holds up surprisingly well in spite of some issues with the campaign.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)

Back in high school, in the far-off era of the mid-2000s, I couldn’t escape discussion about Call of Duty (CoD) from fellow students, particularly the Modern Warfare trilogy (even one of my teachers played Modern Warfare 2 at the time). Despite this, however, I never really touched the games for one reason or another due to my differing tastes in games at the time. I have since played more FPS games, as you can see on this blog, but even then, I still never touched CoD and hadn’t intended to thanks to the series’ increasingly mixed reception. That would change, however, as I learned that the series had more than just the name going for it and actually left a major impact on FPS games and gaming as a whole. As such, I decided that for the fifteenth anniversary of this blog, I would finally do my due diligence and play the Modern Warfare trilogy, beginning with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4) from 2007, developed by Infinity Ward. I didn’t know exactly what to expect going in, but I walked away finally understanding the game’s appeal and lasting influence.

Tron 2.0: Killer App (Xbox)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Tron and Tron 2.0

Back in 2010, Disney released Tron: Legacy, the official sequel to the 1982 film Tron, which had gained a cult following at the time. While most modern Tron fans would know of Legacy (often erroneously labeled a reboot) and maybe its spinoff media, including the criminally underrated Tron: Uprising, few today may remember that Tron once had a different official sequel, a video game appropriately titled Tron 2.0, as far back as 2003. Monolith Productions, perhaps best known now for F.E.A.R. and the Middle-earth games, developed the original PC version of Tron 2.0, which would receive two mobile versions (subtitled Light Cycles and Discs of Tron) developed by Lavastorm Analytics, an Xbox port (subtitled Killer App) developed by Climax LA (who would later develop Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) and a Game Boy Advance prequel (also subtitled Killer App) developed by Digital Eclipse. All versions of the game received mixed to positive reviews from critics, though the game unfortunately didn’t sell very well and the publisher, Buena Vista Games, dropped support for the game two years later.

My own memories of Tron 2.0 date back to around the year of release, or maybe a little later, when I saw a boxed copy on a retail shelf and never picked it up despite liking the original Tron. Even after I got into Tron: Legacy (Legacy) and its related media, I still had that memory in the back of my mind and found myself growing more curious about what could have been. This year, I finally sated my curiosity through the Xbox port (henceforth referred to as Killer App for the purpose of this review) in time for not only the thirteenth anniversary of this blog, but also, coincidentally, the twentieth anniversary of the game itself. While the Xbox Killer App version has some technical issues, likely brought on by the porting process, I found myself having a fun time and curious about what could have been for the franchise if it had continued in this direction.

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Xbox)

Within the sea of gaming, there’s usually at least one series you hear about on and off, but otherwise don’t pay too much attention to. For me, that was TimeSplitters, a series of FPS games developed by Free Radical Design. When the announcement came in 2021 that Free Radical was reformed by their new parent company explicitly to revive the series, I got a little more curious about the series, though I wouldn’t actually try any of the games out for myself until I had seen certain references to 2005’s Future Perfect, the third game, that caught my attention. Coincidentally, I found a physical Xbox copy out in the wild and now I’m glad that I gave this game a chance.

Resistance: Burning Skies

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resistance: Burning Skies and other Resistance games.

When the PlayStation 3 and Vita digital storefront closures were announced, one Vita game that went on my radar was Resistance: Burning Skies, developed by Nihilistic Software and the final game in the Resistance franchise. I was originally going to buy the game digitally due to the higher aftermarket price on physical copies, however the later announced backpedaling on the store closures took some pressure off me. I would eventually buy a physical copy of the game anyway, however I was motivated to do so after finding a sealed copy in the wild, in part because I previously bought a physical copy of Resistance: Retribution, knowing I’d be paying a little over the MSRP of a digital version. While I did find the game worth playing, I’m not completely sure if the price was worth it.

Resistance 3

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resistance 2 and Resistance 3.

Three years after Resistance 2, Insomniac finished off the Resistance trilogy with Resistance 3 in 2011, with no plans for any future installments. When I decided to play through the main series, I noticed that while Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 both have digital options available, Resistance 3 does not for whatever reason, leading me to have to actively seek out a physical copy as I had done for Fall of Man. Fortunately, I was able to find a new copy of the game at a local game reseller for a reasonable price, allowing me to experience the Resistance trilogy to the end. Overall I found it to be an improvement over its predecessors in several areas, perhaps even the strongest entry, and a fitting conclusion to the series.

Resistance 2

Following the success of the PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man, Insomniac developed a follow-up released in 2008 titled Resistance 2. Within the Resistance trilogy, this was one I actually got when it came out, for reasons I will disclose later, though at the time I was a little too young to actually play it. At the time the version I got was the Collector’s Edition, which includes extra digital content alongside an art book, a behind-the-scenes bonus disc and a Chimera action figure, though I would eventually end up with a Standard Edition copy of the game as well. Having finally gotten the chance to play it, I found the experience overall mixed, with many of its shortcomings stemming from some odd gameplay decisions.

Resistance: Fall of Man

With the launch of the PlayStation 3 on the horizon, Insomniac Games, Sucker Punch and Naughty Dog, three high-profile developers for the PS2, collectively and independently decided to use the new system as an opportunity to diversify their portfolios away from mascot platformers and introduce an original IP that aimed for a realistic art style to take advantage of the system’s capabilities. In Insomniac’s case, their follow-up to the Ratchet & Clank series was Resistance: Fall of Man, a launch title for the PS3 and their first FPS since their first ever game Disruptor on the PS1. With this year being the 15^th anniversary of the PS3 as well as Resistance: Fall of Man, in addition to general pandemic boredom, I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to play it for the first time to see how well it held up, after managing to find a physical copy at a local retro game store. While time hasn’t been too kind to it in places, the game did manage to surprise me with its interesting ideas.

Doom Eternal

As a fan of both Doom (2016) and Doom VFR, Doom Eternal was an easy buy for me, as I immensely enjoyed the fast-paced FPS action of those games and wanted more like it. I also ended up going in partially blind, as I hadn’t seen anything after the initial E3 trailer, so this was a very fresh experience with no unrealistically high expectations. After a delay in receiving my copy, due to a miscalculation related to COVID-19, I sat through and proceeded to rip and tear through the forces of hell. While I had an absolute blast most of the time, I found myself more frustrated during the final stretch, as the minor flaws in this installment’s approach to game design magnified greatly by that point.

BioShock Infinite - Some Great Ideas Disappeared Into the Infinite

Allow me to start off with a little history. In 2007, Irrational Games introduced the world to BioShock, a game about a man discovering an underwater city headed straight to hell. It was very inventive and told a rather brilliant story filled with deconstruction and an examination of player freedom in video games at the time, even if the last act did feel like padding past the emotional climax. Then in 2010 came BioShock 2, which saw a return to the city of  Rapture through the eyes of one already on the inside and built off the aftermath of the previous game. Its story wasn't as good and the overall design was very linear, but the father-daughter bonding was handled brilliantly and gameplay mechanics that were revisited received a welcomed upgrade. While fans were satiated by another go at Rapture, it would be the Minerva's Den DLC that would prove to be the best BioShock 2 experience. Though the franchise was successful through the adventures in the great city, many began waiting on pins and needles for the next project, known as BioShock Infinite (aka Project Icarus), which would take place in Columbia, a city in the sky.

The previews for BioShock Infinite presented a slew of incredibly innovative ideas and very unique gameplay mechanics. Among these would be parts of Columbia randomly failing and altering the environment, tears in reality being able to summon forth many useful things for battle, a certain character possessing telekinetic powers and more. Many trailers were released that showed off differing but evolving mechanics and styles that got everyone curious and excited, save for those who refused to touch this game simply because Rapture wouldn't be involved (except it is, so joke's on them). I was among the ones excited and, due in part to numerous delays, I pre-ordered the Premium Edition of the game and immediately began playing it whenever I didn't have college work to do. Over the next few days I experienced a story that managed to take what BioShock did and top it in a spectacular fashion, though I quickly discovered that it was nothing at all like the previews made it out to be, with many mechanics and ideas removed and improved until 2K Marin was satisfied with this final version. So, you may be asking, was it for the better?

Yes...mostly.

For those of you still wondering, no, this doesn't happen.

BioShock Infinite, taking place in the year 1912, tells the story of a man named Booker DeWitt, who begins his journey by travelling via boat to a lighthouse in an attempt to meet up with the ones who hired him for a certain job. This job stipulates that if he wants his past debts erased, he'll have to find a girl named Elizabeth in Columbia and bring her back to New York. At the top of the lighthouse, he ends up climbing inside a pod that ascends above the stormy clouds and acts as a one-way ticket to Columbia, which is rather peaceful by comparison. After reluctantly accepting a baptism, he is allowed to enter the city and learns of a raffle that is to be held as part of a celebration for Zachary Comstock, the self-proclaimed "Prophet" of the city. Booker goes to the raffle and wins, his prize being the first throw at stoning an interracial couple with baseballs. As he makes a decision on what to do, someone notices an AD branding on his right hand, which automatically identifies him as the "False Shepherd", meaning he must now be killed before he can do anything that might harm the city. With the city now against him, Booker must now fight his way toward Monument Island to find Elizabeth, all while trying to avoid a class war between two factions known as the Founders and the Vox Populi.

For the first part of the game, Infinite is really good at discussing the sociopolitical and religious aspects of Columbia even after Booker manages to add Elizabeth to his party. The duo constantly come into contact with a dark side of the city that is thinly concealed by its peaceful appearance. It is ruled by the Founders, who worship the words of Zachary Comstock and the Founding Fathers of America, in this case George Washington, with the symbol of the sword; Benjamin Franklin, with the symbol of the key; and Thomas Jefferson, with the symbol of the scroll. It was clear to me from the start that these people come off as religious nuts, since divine worship of America's founders is not only odd, but rather extreme. Not only that, but their beliefs also act as a discussion of American Exceptionalism and how wrong it is, thanks to their racist and xenophobic views towards Blacks and the Irish, who are forced into slave labor and treated as lesser to Whites. This serves as a foundation for the formation of the Vox Populi, led by Daisy Fitzroy, who wish to overthrow the Founders and establish a new order. The way that the game handles these discussions is actually very well thought out and serves as a great driving point for the narrative, as we are allowed to see the class struggle from both sides and see just how different, or similar, the two groups are. It's told in a way that's smart and approaches it from an angle that doesn't talk down to the player and draws them further into the world.

This should give you an idea of how the Founders function.

Then after the death of Daisy Fitzroy, the game throws that all away in favor of exploring Booker and Elizabeth's characters, mostly the latter. This is done in tandem with the game's exploration of parallel universes by giving us an idea of how either of them would have lived if they occupied a dimension where a single decision or change significantly altered the course of history, which in turn creates a much bigger ripple effect than anyone could imagine. I liked the direction it was headed, but sadly the characters never seemed to return to their original timeline, in which an important character is dead and the alternative would have been to locate someone with a similar skill set to them. At this stage of the game it is still capable of weaving an interesting narrative, however it doesn't seem to quite reach any sort of conclusion that would tie things up or have the characters possibly learn some kind of important lesson that can translate to the player in the real world.

This still happens, but in a completely different context (and language).

This is where the very final act comes into play, its execution putting the problems with the narrative thread on full display. Not once does it ever decide to go back to discussing the differences between the classes and there isn't a point where it doesn't feel like two different story types put together. There are also some moral choices and minor decisions that Infinite presents its players that all seem to lead toward something unique or bring up the possibility of a radically altered story based on these decisions, possibilities that the game throws away when it gets to the ending. Yes, ending singular, not plural as expected. After experiencing the ending, I sort of replayed the game in my mind and realized that subsequent playthroughs would then be seen from this new perspective that would be very difficult not to think about. At the same time however, I have rather mixed feelings about how it turns out. On one hand it presents a rather brilliant deconstruction of storytelling in all mediums, but on the other it comes right out of nowhere, is a bit confusing at first, cheapens every decision made in the game thanks to them retroactively never happening and ends up tainting the relationship between Booker and Elizabeth a bit by killing any potential from them being a couple through a certain revelation that makes the latter a huge turn-off. This ending helps BioShock Infinite's story stand as an example of a game having too many good ideas, since it doesn't completely flesh them all out and it sort of makes me think of John Dies at the End (the book at least) in the sense that it comes off as two to three somewhat unrelated stories slapped together with a common ending, except the cult literary example given has the excuse of originally being an annual Halloween serial later turned into a book and this game is a Triple A production.

Where the story may begin to fray as it gets closer to the end, it is the gameplay where the experience truly shines. Combat in this BioShock is definitely more challenging than its predecessors, which I actually find to be a good way to get used to the new mechanics. Enemies show a good amount of variety in their AI and attack patterns and their designs are refreshingly based on normal humans as opposed to the off-putting Splicers from Rapture. Each enemy type emphasizes a different weapon and waves are patterned such that you have to really think about what you're going to do next, but even though I like these designs better overall, they do eventually grow a little stale once the only difference between Founder and Vox is their color scheme or aesthetic choice, so they lose a little of their unique flair toward the end and just become faces in the crowd. Ones that aren't shared between factions, such as the formidable Handyman or the ironically named Boys of Silence, are actually quite interesting and stand out the most. It should also be noted that Infinite doesn't really have anything that could be considered a Boss, but the closest thing to it is a fight in a graveyard that can become rather infuriating and is sure to cause people to throw their controllers in frustration on higher difficulties.

Elizabeth, the most expressive character in the game.
(No, that doesn't really happen, but you get the idea.)

Of course, it is also the weapons at Booker's disposal that help give the combat a certain flavor. Certain weapon types are pretty much retained from earlier games, with a couple of exceptions. The biggest is that weapons can have a Founder or Vox variant, which is to say that one had red cloth on it and the other doesn't, but also that the melee weapon in this game is the Skyhook, which can also perform executions and double as a way to get around certain maps quicker. The familiar Plasmids have also been replaced with Vigors, which operate in a decidedly different way. ADAM is no longer required to purchase superpowers, nor is EVE required to maintain their use. Vigors, of which there are eight, instead run on a Salts system, where they all share the same Salts bar but have a clearly defined amount of Salts they consume on each use, which forces the player to experiment and find one that they like (such as Murder of Crows for me). Vigors can also be upgraded with regular currency to increase the effectiveness of their unique abilities, plus they also share the same button contexts, which are basically a tap for a single shot and holding to create a trap.

The most fun thing about the Vigors however would be the combinations you can make with them. I ended up relying on Vigors and melee most of the game, with gun use increasing toward the end, so I found some combos that are really fun and surprisingly exploitable with the right Gear. In Infinite, Booker can wear Gear, which is clothing with enhanced abilities spread across four clothing slots: hat, jacket, pants and shoes. These can grant abilities such as earning Silver Eagles, the game's currency, each time you pick up a Voxophone, this game's version of Audio Diaries. Near the end of the game, I found a Gear that had a chance to gain Salts upon enemy death, which helped boost one of my favorite combos, which was most effective in enclosed spaces. The combo is thus: first cast an upgraded Bucking Bronco to levitate enemies in the air to allow for attacks while they are defenseless, then throw an upgraded Devil's Kiss to cause an explosion of fire with wide splash damage. If the targets are weak enough, they should die from this combo and that particular Gear will potentially award Salts for every kill, which has the potential to have an infinite Salts gauge if lucky enough. This is just one of the myriad combinations that you could discover, which is merely part of the fun.

Murder of Crows, the best Vigor in the entire game (to me at least).

The only real downer about the combat is that you can only have two weapons equipped at any time, which perhaps lessens the burden of carrying weapons you will never need, but sometimes the world is littered with a specific item to the point where I wonder if I made the right choice with what I picked (hint: the shotgun is your new best friend no matter what the room says). The same goes for Vigors, though you can access a scroll wheel with ease. The only advantage to the system in place is that you can easily switch between two weapons on the fly, and trust me when I say it's fast and best for setting up Vigor combos, but you'll also need to figure out the weapons you like and stick with them; trust me when I say you'll know them when you see them.

Map layout of the various parts of Columbia is also very well done. There is always a correct path to advance the story, but there also exist a number of secret areas that require either a good number of lockpicks or good exploration abilities to find. These areas are usually worth it in the end, awarding a high number of Silver Eagles, lots of ammunition, or even a good amount of Health and Salts refills along with Infusions (based on an idea for the scrapped Nostrums game mechanic), which can upgrade the Health, Salts or Shield gauges to allow an edge in combat. Each section of the great city also has its own set of visual landmarks and the areas never feel recycled from each other.

Though there is much blood to be spilled and those in charge are
kinda racist, it turns out that Columbia is a pretty beautiful place.

On the technical side of things, the graphics are the best yet in the series, with more dynamic lighting and open sky combined with areas that all have their own distinct feel and personality to them. Character models are very detailed and expressive, particularly Elizabeth, who has animations for when she just looking around the environment or assisting you in combat by throwing you useful items. The visual delight is one I won't soon forget, as it elevates the series, and perhaps the genre, to a whole new standard. Sounds are also very good, with well chosen effects and a voice cast that captures the spirit of the characters and world perfectly. I have absolutely no complaints here.

Lastly, I'd like to mention a rather unique difficulty setting known as 1999 Mode, which tweaks the game in a way that recaptures the design of a shooter from 1999. The game plays and is scripted exactly the same, except enemies are tougher, there is a higher money penalty for dying (100 Silver Eagles) and if you don't have enough money when you die, then it's Game Over and you are booted back to the main menu. I was actually excited to try it out and so I did in an attempt to complete the game a second time for this review, but I died so often in an early section, after getting Murder of Crows, with so little money that I decided to just stop before giving in to insanity. Though incredibly difficult, I'm sure that fans of 1990's shooters will definitely get some satisfaction from playing it and it is a pretty good self-imposed challenge, since it gets you to really ration your money and resort to scouting the environment more. (Note: Normally 1999 Mode is unlocked by completing the game once, but you can access it earlier if, at the main menu, you press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B/O, A/X, Start. You're welcome.)

BioShock Infinite is a game that reaches beyond the high marks set by its predecessors in almost every way, but perhaps tries to tap too deeply into the infinite to come up with an engaging narrative. While gameplay is the best in a shooter yet, the story, shockingly, has too many good ideas to completely develop them and has pacing that can be best described as uneven. Shooter fans will no doubt love this game and those new to the franchise that haven't played the original should pick up the PS3 version, as it comes with the original BioShock on disc...if you live in America. The journey may be filled with excitement, wonder and tears, but the ending may cement one's opinion on the game forever and those uncomfortable with the idea of parallel universes should either think about it for a moment or try to go in with an open mind.

BioShock - A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys

In 2007, Irrational games released a first-person shooter called BioShock, a spiritual successor to the System Shock 2 video game by the same developer, onto the Xbox 360 and PC platforms to critical acclaim and wide retail success. It was praised for its unique setting, immersion and stellar campaign. While other video games have yet to copy it outright, there are still some subtle influences that can be found within gaming today, particularly its atmosphere of uncertainty. With the long-awaited BioShock Infinite finally on the horizon, I felt that now would be a good time to replay and share my opinions of both the PS3 port of the original, done by Digital Extremes, and the direct sequel, BioShock 2. Since it's been a while since I played the original multiple times, I still found myself enjoying it, but I've also started to notice a little aging and a couple of other problems.

The game, which takes place in 1960, famously begins with Jack aboard a plane as it crashes into the ocean. As the lone survivor, he spots a lighthouse and heads toward it, for it is the only dry land that can be seen for miles in the night sky. Once inside, the lights flicker on and display a welcoming banner above a small flight of stairs. Jack goes down and notices a bathysphere; with no other option before him, he enters the bathysphere and travels downward several fathoms. A video display from a projector appears before him as the voice of a man named Andrew Ryan explains that where he's going is the secret underwater city known as Rapture, a place where Man can create and make scientific advancements without any interference. When the bathysphere finally docks however, Jack quickly learns that what was once a Utopia has now fallen hard from grace. A man named Atlas contacts him on radio and offers Jack some assistance as now one thing becomes clear, the only way out now is to get through the tyrannical Andrew Ryan himself.

Even after five, going on six, years, the story still feels very well-written and executed. It's actually really interesting to go through a city built entirely upon the capitalist (read: objectivist) philosophy and find out just how it all fell apart, primarily due to everything being privatized as a result of a distinct lack of government restriction. I also like how some important details are told through recorded messages that can be found throughout the world to allow a view of the dystopian devolution from the eyes of someone else while still allowing the player to follow the plot line if they don't find that many of them. The story of the present that Jack experiences has very good pacing and gives the player the proper motivation to strive forward and reach their ultimate goal. When the big climax hits, there is sense of satisfaction in what Jack has accomplished and a very surprising twist turns the game on its head and causes the player to look back at their actions in a different light. Not to give too much away, but a major deconstruction of free will and player choice was pulled off rather brilliantly and gives the player something to really think about when they go through another game. This moment helps the game truly stand out as a masterwork and a testament to video game storytelling.

The very first glimpse of Rapture in the game: the city's atheist beliefs.

And then, just like John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, it doesn't know when to shut up. After a very fitting climax in the office of Andrew Ryan, yet another twist presents itself as still an opportunity to let the game end on a powerful note. However, this twist leads to another set of levels that last at least as long as a real life reading of the aforementioned John Galt's infamous speech. During this time, there aren't any real additions to gameplay since every type of enemy and weapon has already been seen by the player and any changes can only come from the level design. I'll admit that there are some interesting level layouts, mainly a large, fully explorable hotel complex, and finding out a little more information about Yi Suchong and Brigid Tennenbaum led to some rather interesting revelations. However, in the grand scheme of things, these last few hours consist of a bit of unnecessary backtracking and a long setup for an annoying escort mission. To top it all off, the final boss is a complete joke and the end result feels cartoonish and out of place. One could make the case that this final act helps to resolve everything in the game, but I would say that cutting the game off at Andrew Ryan's office would have helped make the ending more powerful and at least prevented the game from stepping into the same pitfalls as countless other video games. Someone out there will like it, but even a few years ago I was waiting for the game to finally end; my disinterest just became stronger with every play through.

While the story has a length issue for me, I have a different opinion regarding the gameplay, namely that it's absolutely fantastic. Along with wielding up to eight different weapons in his right hand, Jack is also able to use the abilities of various Plasmids throughout the game with his left. Plasmids allow Jack to do many things, ranging from shooting electricity or fire to the power of telekinesis. These abilities take up EVE, which can only be replenished through the use of an EVE Hypo found or purchased within the world. Then there are Gene Tonics, which can enhance Jack's physical, combat or engineering abilities with genetic tweaks such as generating a field of electricity when struck, reduced hacking difficulty or faster movement speed among many, many others. Plasmids and Gene Tonics can either be found in the environment or purchased at a Gatherer's Garden by using ADAM obtained from Little Sisters, which can also be used to give Jack more slots for these abilities or increase his Health and EVE stores.

The main enemies of the game are Splicers, residents of Rapture who abused genetic splicing for Plasmids and Gene Tonics to the point of physical and psychological disfigurement. Different types of Splicers are introduced at a good rate and require some variance in strategy to defeat. Researching them with the Research Camera can lead to some interesting bonuses, like increased damage against them or using hearts as First Aid Kits. Fighting both Splicers and Big Daddies, the ones who protect the Little Sisters, requires Jack to use some creative combination of his Plasmids and weapons to full effectiveness by exploiting their weaknesses and even using the environment to your advantage. In this sense, the combat system is one of the most impressive in the genre and future games would only continue to improve on this sort of combination attack.

A Houdini Splicer about to attack Jack

Pretending those advancements haven't happened yet, the game does a pretty good job on its own to encourage experimentation. I can guarantee that you'll find a combination that is comfortable and suits your playstyle, especially since the weapons feature multiple ammo types and have their own strengths and weaknesses. I can also guarantee that there will be at least one or two weapons you may never use for one reason or another, though I must say that once you discover how effective the Electro Bolt Plasmid and pseudo-upgraded Wrench (which I dub the "God Wrench") are together, your willingness to experiment may dwindle a bit. This doesn't prevent combat from getting truly chaotic, since in all likelihood you'll come across a battle that goes on in all 360 degrees as you attempt to keep track of it all. One thing that probably holds it back a little, depending on who you ask, would be the Vita-Chamber system, which ensures that death is a slap on the wrist. If you die, you'll come back to life at the nearest Vita-Chamber with most of your health and EVE intact, but enemies will retain the damage that they sustained before your untimely demise. I think that sometimes it helped to alleviate frustration in a particularly difficult fight, but on the other hand it was also capable of removing the tension from fighting a powerful Big Daddy. In essence, there are times you'll feel like a god, but others still where your obstacles instead feel like more of a nuisance.

To get lower prices at vending machines or get the city on your side, pretty much anything mechanical can be hacked through a mini-game where the player has to rearrange pipes to get liquid from one end to another. At first it feels designed well enough to stretch the player's brain with a unique puzzle mechanic. However, this task is eventually done to such extent as to become monotonous and frustrating. What doesn't help is that it is possible for the pipes and tiles, which must be revealed by the way, to be arranged in such a way as to render a puzzle completely impossible. Thankfully this can be circumvented with an Automatic Hack Tool or by having enough money on hand. Speaking of money, I have a minor annoyance in that there is clearly room for four digits, yet you can only hold a maximum of $500. Why this is so, I have no clue.

The hacking mini-game (when the game decides not to hate your guts).

One point of high praise that I can give this game would be its graphics and overall atmosphere. Everything is rendered very clearly and it's easy to navigate around the city of Rapture thanks to some rather distinct locales. Though some areas will feel the same after a while, there's no doubt that the dev team put a lot of work into mapping out the underwater city to feel realistically constructed and memorable. The mixture of bright colors and dark lighting help lend the environments some genuine tension and potentially a fear of the unknown. This heavy atmosphere is BioShock's greatest strength and helps the underwater world be more unique.

Of course, I also need to briefly discuss the morality elements this game has, mainly its sole mechanic of rescuing or harvesting Little Sisters. Your choices with them determine the ending that you'll get, with opportunity for some replay value to try and see the three different endings. Personally I got the Good ending, which is something that I tend to get anyway whenever there are moral choices in a game. Although this choice feels very black and white, this mechanic also determines your rate of ADAM gain. Harvesting nets you an instant 160 ADAM, while rescuing only gives you 80. However, for every three Little Sisters you save, you'll also receive an additional 200 ADAM as a gift the next time you visit a Gatherer's Garden, which brings a net gain of 440 ADAM for waiting as opposed to a quick and dirty 480. In a sense, the morality choice seems to play off the player's greed, which is actually an interesting way of trying to handle it.

You're going to see the ins and outs of this thing a lot.

Finally, the sounds of this game are really well done. There are some great casting choices for the characters that do speak and while there isn't really much of an original score, since a lot of the game is realistically silent, when it does appear it's pretty good and matches the tonality of the scene. The licensed music that does play through turntables and jukeboxes is also rather interesting. This selections fits the 1960 time period perfectly and is consistent with the visual styles of the advertisements and the technology that can be found all over the game. If it weren't for the music, the game may not be as believable.

Overall, BioShock is a very good First-Person Shooter. Though the story could have easily been shortened, the combat is solidly constructed and the city of Rapture is very unique with graphics and music that help it live and breathe as its own entity. I would easily recommend this game to anyone looking for a uniquely dark and enjoyable game. Even if you don't agree with the praises it has received in the last five to six years, you'll still be glad that you played it, even if it has aged just a little. Now I'd like to see if my opinion of BioShock 2 has changed at all since I last played it years ago.

Duty Calls: The Calm Before The Storm (Parody)

NOTE: This is a parody review of a (parody) game and should not be taken seriously.

In today's gaming market, you don't have to look hard to find a military-themed First-Person Shooter, such as the long-running Call of Duty series by Activision. Sometimes however, you need something different in order to prevent monotony, which is where the downloadable title Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm (aka Duty Calls), released in early 2011, comes in. This military shooter does things that separate it from the crowd, perhaps making it one of the best shooters in this generation.

Normally, a military shooter puts you in the place of an American soldier, and your job is to lead your squad to victory against a foreign army. This formula, however, is not present in Duty Calls, instead taking a bold new direction. In this game, you are an American soldier, and your job is to lead your squad to victory against a foreign army while trying to retrieve a deadly nuclear missile bomb from the hands of the enemy leader boss before he can use it for evil purposes.

The story in this game is very rich and deep, even for a military shooter. Your character goes through a lot of emotional depth, making you connect with him as if you were actually in his place. A particularly dramatic and memorable moment is a cutscene where someone dies while delivering important information. Over the course of the game I had grown so attached to these characters that I felt really sad when this happened. Awe-inspiring setpiece moments help to capitalize on your emotions, bringing the appropriate one to mind when faced with certain obstacles.

The graphics of this game are very realistic, helping to set the tone of the story. The music further helps to set this up, giving a truly epic soundtrack that perfectly matches any given situation. The voice acting is, for lack of a better term, simply amazing, allowing you to become more attached to the characters and get to know who they are.

While the controls may be simple and easy to pick up, there is plenty of variety to be found in the combat. You start out with a standard assault rifle, but as you progress you can pick up other useful items such as sticks and notebook paper, which can help you get out of nasty situations, such as when you are facing off against a persistent paratrooper near the end. There is also a bit of challenge in this game, since it is easy for you to see a bloody screen as soldiers attack with a barrage of bullets. With a little perseverance though, and an awesome moment of slowdown, you can get by them just fine.

There is a ranking system in this game, like in plenty of military shooters, and man do you have to work hard in order to rank up. Even on easier difficulties, it can take a while, but once you get the next rank, you can breathe a sigh of relief before having to rank up again. With enough time and investment though, you too can be a Sergeant of the Master Sergeants Most Important Person of Extreme Sergeants to the Max!

Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm is quite a step forward in the way of FPS', especially when it comes to the military genre. It attempts to stand out with some unique ideas and they really work. If you are a fan of military shooters, Duty Calls is a game you should definitely check out.

NOTE: thedutycalls.com, the site from which this game could be downloaded originally, is (as of this writing) a dead link.

The Darkness II

The Darkness was a really amazing game to play, and with the release date of its sequel getting closer, I became really excited to play another great experience, even with a change in developer (Digital Extremes worked on this title as opposed to Starbreeze). To keep myself interested, I even read a free comic that helped to remind me what happened in the game I played a month earlier. While The Darkness II proves itself to be a decent follow-up, there are some things that should have remained in the dark.

Two years after the original game, Jackie Estacado has officially become Don of the Franchetti family and also found a way to push back The Darkness within him. When he's attacked at a restaurant, Jackie is forced to unleash his dark powers in pursuit of his attackers. Through an informant of his named Johnny, who is an expert on The Darkness, Jackie learns of the Brotherhood and what they plan to do once they get their hands on this demonic force. Meanwhile, Jackie still thinks about the death of his girlfriend Jenny two years ago, and has been the entire time to the point where he sees hallucinations of her and times they've spent together.

The Jenny subplot bothered me as the game went on, for a few reasons. First off, Jackie seeing visions of his dead girlfriend from a couple years back is really unhealthy, and makes you think he should be sent to a mental hospital (which you actually do a few times, more on that later). Second, even though the prequel comic, Confession, had Jackie say he still thought about Jenny, it still came off to me like he had moved on from the event and that his recap of the previous game was more like a last goodbye. Finally, the game seemed to revolve around Jenny the more the story went forward, to where she is involved in a very unexpected plot twist after the credits roll, which only seems to serve as setting up a possible The Darkness III. Overall, Jackie's character felt like it had taken a big step backwards compared to what happened in the last game and its supporting material. On the subject of mental hospitals, the main story takes a break a few times to place Jackie in such a place, where Jenny is alive and he still obsesses over her. These sequences proved to be hilarious, though up until an explanation is given about this place you are left to wonder the first couple of times whether the events of the game are a dream or reality.

An interesting game mechanic that this game introduces is the concept of quad-wielding, or the ability to control two guns and two Darkness tentacles at the same time. This I found made me feel a greater sense of power than I did the first time controlling The Darkness, and also allowed for plenty of variety in terms of slaughtering enemies. Enemy encounter is another thing though. While I won't complain about the linear level design, I played on Thug difficulty (the lowest setting; the highest is Don) and a few times I felt a little overwhelmed by the enemies I was made to fight, especially in the Vendettas campaign (more on that later). This game has a nice Skill Tree system, where you can use Darkness Essence from foes to purchase Talents at appropriate Shrines (the first of which is the ability to eat hearts!), giving you the ability to sort of customize Jackie's skills. Two particularly helpful Talents can only be found in the Limited Edition of the game, which I played for this review, and in fact one later Talent you can access (in both versions) is Darkness Armor, which from what I could see on the screen is similar to its comic book counterpart.

Speaking of aesthetic, this game has really impressive graphics, giving it the appearance of a comic book similar in style to the one the games are based on (in place of the first game's more realistic appearance). This is paired with an equally amazing soundtrack that may be on par, if not better than, the music of its predecessor. The voice acting from the named characters is just as good, even with Jackie's change in voice actor.

The ability to summon an army of Darklings is dropped in this game in favor of accompaniment from a singular Darkling, who wears a Union Jack flag and speaks in a British accent. You even get to control him a couple times during the story, where he aids Jackie further by viscerally executing enemies whilst opening a door or getting him out of a tight spot. I found the Darkling itself to be another source of entertainment, though there is some potential missing from its solo sequences (I can't quite think of what that potential could be, but something felt missing).

Once you complete the main story, you can also go through a Vendettas campaign, a separate story that takes place during the main one, where you get to play as one of four people under Jackie's wing who each master a power of The Darkness in some form. There's even a Hit List option, where you can replay missions from the story as well as a handful of new ones, though some can only be played online. Having played as all four characters, I can say that while this concept is interesting, all of them play very similarly, despite having their own Talent Trees, and the Vendettas option is overall somewhat underwhelming.

And that's one word I would use to describe this game: underwhelming. Yet I would also use this word: amazing. This game takes a step forward with some of its amazing mechanics, but the other aspects of the game are underwhelming, particularly the Vendettas side-plot and the whole idea of Jackie being unhealthily obsessed with Jenny after seeing some character development from the trauma. Despite all this, I would still say to give this game a go because of the more positive aspects, including the sheer power you feel from quad-wielding. If you are a big fan of The Darkness comic you will be happy to see concepts from it finally show up here. Either way though, if you enjoyed the first game, prepare for disappointment.

The Darkness - Let It Consume You

When I first heard of The Darkness as a game, I thought the idea sounded pretty cool, given the promise of being able to control the power of darkness as well as summon creatures called Darklings to do your bidding. It was later that I found out, during my first time playing, that the game was based on a still-running comic of the same name by Top Cow Productions, so I became curious of its source material, though I eventually stopped playing the game without completing it. Since then, while I haven't read very much of the comic overall, I found what I did read to be quite entertaining, though I should warn you that it's definitely not kid-friendly. With the release of The Darkness II on the horizon, I decided to come back to this game as a more experienced player, although I played on Easy because I'm not well versed in First-Person Shooters; while I enjoyed this title, there were some small issues I had with it.

Jackie Estacado is a mafia hitman for the Franchetti family, headed by "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti, who targets the hitman on his 21st birthday on account of suspected danger to the don. When this attempt fails, Jackie soon discovers an ancient force called The Darkness has awakened within him, having been passed down between generations. As Jackie figures out how to control this new power, he sets out on a mission to kill Paulie as payback for the assassination attempt. While the origin of The Darkness itself is similar to that of the comics, the approach to the story overall is the sort of thing one would expect to see in a live-action movie, which I mean in a good way.

The voice acting of this game is at the very least decent, with characters from the comic being given especially well-chosen voices and great performances (I praise Mike Patton's role as the titular Darkness). While the acting at times sounded slightly off to me, this was thankfully scarce and I liked it (the acting) for the most part. The action of the game is accompanied by some really amazing music, from a soft violin tune when it's quiet to a truly epic, evolving guitar riff during important battles. If the original music for the game was put out on CD, I would totally go out looking for it.

The basic gunplay of this title isn't too different from any other FPS at this point, but it overall manages to stand out. For instance, when Jackie holds any one-handed weapon, the system of dual-wielding kicks in and he is holding, for example, two pistols (two-handed weapons such as shotguns still operate realistically). Though you'll half the time be using your bullets to kill lights, the system of reloading is more realistic in that if you, as another example, decide to reload while your gun(s) has extra bullets left, you are ditching those spare shots in favor of a new clip. The guns themselves, particularly the pistols, are extremely accurate to where if the reticle is aiming at a light from a great distance, a single shot is enough to destroy it. Switching between your arsenal of guns is very simple and quick, making it fairly easy to switch to whatever it is you need/want at the moment.

On the subject of shooting lights, there are a multitude of Darkness powers you have at your disposal, so long as you're away from any sort of light source. These go from performing stealth kills with and manipulating a Darkness tentacle to dual-wielding guns powered by darkness and summoning a black hole to quickly take care of a large group of enemies, the last two of which I enjoyed using to where I tried to activate them at every opportunity I got. These powers run on Darkness energy, drained quicker by using them in light, which is easily replenished by devouring hearts or simply being in a dark area. Devouring hearts from enemy corpses also increases your Darkness Level, allowing you to use your powers for a much longer period of time. As mentioned previously, you also have the ability to summon an army of Darklings, creatures created from The Darkness that aid you in taking down enemies by attacking from a distance or blowing themselves up, among other things. Listening to these things talk can be hilarious, given the kinds of things they say and how they seem to almost converse with each other at times when you control a group of them. However, like The Darkness itself, these assistants are just as susceptible to light.

To increase the time you spend with this game, there is a variety of side-missions you can perform that will award you with unlockable content, including concept art, behind-the-scenes videos, and even full issues of the Top Cow comic. These are given to you through phone numbers and letters found on the ground, some of which require using The Darkness to obtain, which you redeem by using a telephone in the subways or a mailbox respectively. If you look all over every level, you can also find (fictional) phone numbers to note down and dial manually into subway phones in order to learn a rather interesting secret. In fact, you may find yourself spending about half your time alone searching high and low for these secret numbers.

During my bout of controlling the forces of pure darkness, I ran into a few odd glitches. At one point far into the game when I used a Darkness power to move a police car to use as footing, all of the lights from the vehicle remained in the same spot they were in, effectively becoming disembodied in the process. Also at least once when I used a phone number to collect an unlockable, Jackie went through the dialing motions twice, the second time during the beginning of the actual call. This next criticism is not a glitch, but while I appreciated the attention to detail in the level design, I sometimes couldn't help but think Jackie could at least walk just a little bit faster to make travelling across an area somewhat less time consuming.

The Darkness also has a function for online multiplayer, although I don't have very much to say about it. The options for a type of match merely cover the basics, so it's not exactly fresh meat. From what I could see there's surprisingly still barely any sort of community left (though it was probably thriving when the game first came out), and the one match I played suffered from huge amounts of lag before the server disconnected.

While this is an entirely new take on the tale of The Darkness, I should note it has some changes from the comic, at least from what I know from the little I've read of the overall story. I'm not going to comment on any design changes, but I can say that while in the comic Jackie's powers are only rendered moot by strong light, tension is added to the game by making his weakness any sort of light period, though he retains his creativity for getting around this. Adding to my comment on the approach feeling like a movie adaptation, the name of the don of the Franchetti family went from Frankie in the comic to Paulie in the game, though I'm not one to complain about this. Having read the very first few issues of the original comic via trade paperback, I was expecting the characters of Sonatine and the Angelus to appear, but the story does a good job of telling itself without them; thankfully though, it retains the character Butcher Joyce, who has a prominent role in the game.

Even if you are not familair with the Top Cow comic, I would suggest giving this game a try if you are of age. As you advance in the engaging campaign it becomes more and more fun to use The Darkness as you wreak havoc on those that stand in your way. It may even make you curious as to what the source material is like, as I did when first playing (from my small library I recommend the Coming of Age trade and the Four Horsemen mini-series). That said, I can't wait to see how The Darkness II improves on what this game has laid out.

Bulletstorm: FPS On Steroids

In the world of the crowded FPS Genre, it gets difficult to stay on top. Every time a new concept comes along, various clones show up to try and cash in on the idea. However, one key concept always remains in an FPS: using the environment as a weapon. These usually come in the form of red barrels or some other form of explosive object in the background. The concept of realism also stands, attempting to combine the two into masterpiece crafts of the genre. If a game like Uncharted 2 is like a cinematic masterpiece and Call of Duty is a realistic war scenario, then Bulletstorm is a melodic blood symphony that makes the most out of its concept/tagline; Kill With Skill.

Looking first at the story, I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. Usually, a game with a concept as unique as that of Bulletstorm would just have a razor thin excuse plot designed solely to let you run wild. Instead, the story for this game has a surprising amount of depth to it. We start with a very intriguing and potty mouthed opening, which sets the stage for the story. Grayson Hunt finally encounters a ship that General Serrano is on and proceeds to attack it dead on. His ship crashes into Serrano's and both end up landing on the planet Stygia. After having surgery performed on his partner Ishi Sato, Grayson locks onto the location of Serrano and they both proceed to locate him.

It wouldn't really be right to talk about the plot of the game any further, as it is full of twists and unforeseen circumstances. But it would be right to say that it is full of truly spectacular moments and feats of scale never before seen in a shooter. For example, there is one section where Grayson gleefully attacks his enemies with a giant remote controlled robotic dinosaur, and another where Grayson and Ishi have to shoot enemies on an oncoming train while avoiding and attempting to take out a humongous wheel weaving towards them. The story was well-written in my opinion, assisted by top-notch voice acting and hilarious, if very potty mouthed, dialogue. Seriously, the amount of language in this game is enough to rival most games out on the market today. Even so, I was laughing all the way through the campaign.

The biggest part of Bulletstorm is the premise: Kill With Skill. Kills in the game are called Skillshots. In essence, there is a name for just about any kind of kill you can pull off short of just outright mowing an enemy down, each with a point value assigned to it. These points are then used as currency for the various dropkits scattered in the game, so the better you are the more weapons, upgrade, and ammo you can purchase for your guns. These skillshots come from skillfully combining your guns, leash, and standing and sliding kicks to pull off increasingly elaborate shots. Some also involve the environment, such as setting off an explosive near the enemy for the Enviro-Mental skillshot, which is one of the simplest skill shots to perform. If you want to start getting complex, you can use the energy leash's alt-fire, Thumper, to launch enemies into the air and kill them for Trap Shooting. And if you want to really get intricate, you can leash an enemy to your position, wrap a flail shot around them, and then kick them back toward a group and detonate the flail for the Homie Missile and Gang Bang skillshots. There are so many skillshots that I still haven't found all of them. There is a real thrill out of finding new skillshots and weapon combinations to use, which will guarantee more play out of the game in the near future.

The weapons are perhaps the most fun thing about Bulletstorm. Aside from the energy leash, kick, and trusty Peacemaker Carbine (PMC), you have a wide array of guns, each with their own powerful alt-fire modes. The alt-fire allows you to charge up your shots for equally ridiculous effects. For example, charging the Screamer turns it into a flare gun and charging the Head Hunter, a sniper rifle, allows you to detonate the sniper round midair for explosive results. Weapons also include the Penetrator, a drill gun; Flail Gun; Bouncer, a grenade launcher with bouncing orb shots; and Boneduster, a quadruple-barreled shotgun. While using them is always exciting, it helps that the controls are very tight and responsive, letting you feel more like a killing machine than ever thought possible. You can carry two other guns besides the PMC, and some are situational, but it's exciting to find that a combination was very effective even if it wasn't the "correct" one.

As far as visuals go, they were very detailed and fluid. The backgrounds are also very lush and colorful and the architecture is beautifully detailed, which gives you something nice to look at while you paint the walls with the blood and guts of your enemies. It was great to see a game like this use a large color palette, making for more inviting scenery and architecture than something like Fallout 3 or Bioshock 2. The game is also very linear, which minimizes backtracking to just going back to a strategically placed dropkit for a different load out or more ammo. What I knew going in was that the enemies in the game were more randomized to avoid being simply cookie cutter clusters, which I liked when I noticed some of the subtlety in the generated enemies.

Aside from the enjoyable Single Player campaign, there are also the Echoes and multiplayer Anarchy modes. Echoes mode has you replaying specific enemy encounters to compete against your friends by racking up points and finding more skillshots. While I enjoyed this mode for hours, I believe that leaderboard nuts will get full enjoyment out of this mode, compared to someone like me who prefers to play it to squeeze more fun out of the game. Sadly, I am unable to review the Anarchy mode due to unknown circumstances. I can't tell if it was the weather at the time or if it was a bad server connection or if it was my PS3 acting up, but I was unable to play a single map and at best stared at an infinite loading screen for about 30 minutes before giving up. As such, I am not one to say whether or not the online cooperative multiplayer is good or not; you may have to find out from someone else.

So, besides being unable to personally play the multiplayer and an okay ending to the story, Bulletstorm exceeded all of my expectations and then some. Never before has an FPS game make you think so quickly about various kills to the point where it becomes an instinctive reaction. I can definitely recommend this game to absolutely anyone who has played an FPS in their life and is willing to experience something that will expand their creative thinking. As for those who are still on the fence, think about it this way: in this game, you can fire a scoped sniper round at an enemy and redirect it midflight to make sure it hits your target, then control the enemy you just shot midair to another close by and remotely detonate the round.