Review- Portal 2

Who didn't love portal? It's campaign may have been short but it lives on in our memories as one of the grestest games ever. how does the sequel stack up? Let's see.

Gameplay: it's portal, pop a blue portal here and a orange one there. Bam! Instant win, right? No. This puzzler challenged my mind for up to 30 minutes for one puzzle some time. It made me frustrated at times but i pushed on to see the next room. Gamepay haasn't changed but it's still golden. 9.

Controls: Left trigger orange portal, right trigger blue portal, A is jump B is crouch with RB as zoom. standard controls. 8.5

Plot: SPOILERS ABOUND! So portal one didn't have much plot, Basically destroy a homicidal robot bent on testing you to death. Portal 2 is a bit more complicated. So you're Chell once again, set an undistinguished amount of time after the first game.....let's say 300 years to be safe. you run through the classic test tracks at first (they're a tad worn out) until you meet up with your spherical companion Wheatley and accidently turn on GLaDOS. she is not very happy to see you and puts you through the old rigamaroll of trying to kill you via testing. Eventually you and Wheatley escape and sabotage GLaDOS' systems and confront her. You replace GLaDOS with Wheatley. He stores her in a potato battery and sends you both plummeting into the old Aperture test chambers from the 50's and 60's.  You run the old test with the commentary of  Cave Johnson, founder and former CEO of Aperture. you find GLaDOS, save her and make you way back to Wheatley. Eventually (after some of his tests) you confront Wheatley, beat him and give GLaDOS her body back and she releases you. 9.5

Voice Acting and Writing: Now the fun part. If you didn't laugh at Portal 1 then turn around now. Portal 2 made me laugh constantly. Whether if it was GLaDOS' insults, Wheatley's idiocy or Cave Johnson's rants i never stopped laughing. The voice acting is stellar, Steven Merchant plays Wheatley, J.K. Simmons plays Cave Johnson and Ellen McLain plays GLaDOS. They all bring their characters to life in ways nobody else could. 9.5.

Co-op: The co-op expierience is of a unique quality. I loved playing through with my friend. I would highly reccomend playing split screen, because it was difficult to coordinate with someone in the same room i can't imagine doing it across hundreds or thousands of miles. The length is a problem though, it won't take you long to beat but the entertainment value makes up for it. 8.5.

Buy this gameand start thinking with Portals!

Overall review: 9.

Review by Chris.

Review-Fable 3

Ah yes, the wonderful Fable series. Full of dry British humor and the fantastic storytelling only Lionhead could give us. On with the review.

First Gameplay. So Lionhead stuck with the proven formula that has worked so well for them, Go here do that quest, got there do this quest. It still hasn't gotten old. The gameplay stands out, it isn't a hack and slash, it's in a leaugue all of it's own. the camera can get a bit annoying from time to time when it locks up and won't move. Other than that if you're hunting Hobbes or just Looking to make a new friend or family, the gameplay in Fable 3 will never get old; 10.

Next Controls. Nothing much to say here, they haven't changed throughout the series. They're simple and intuitive. If it ain't broke, don't fix it: 9.

The Plot. WARNING: Major Spoilers! The plot formula hasnt changed through the games. You're a decendant of a hero, the one from Fable 2 who became king. You have an evil brother who is king and is opressing the people of fair Albion. You embark on a quest to stop him with your dog, your butler/servant, and the knight that has trained you your whole life. The story is fairly standard from there, gain the respect of the people in different towns to get a rebel force going.....until you have to go to the country of Aurora across the ocean. You crash on the  shores of Aurora with your mentor Walter and a soldier named Ben. Ben goes missing so you and Walter go through a cave where an ancient force known as the crawler takes Walter captive, you save him and get him to the nearby city. After you get back to Albion you advance on the castle with your forces and quickly take it over.Your brother hands over the thrown, after a year of running your kingdom the crawler attacks and you battle a possessed Walter and kill him. As i said pretty standard. The plot is awesome so; 9.5.

Voice acting and writing. Having legendary actor and comedian John Cleese will net anybody a good score for voice acting. Now i'm not a hundred percent on the other voice actors but they're good as well. The writing is the typical satirical british humor that makes you chuckle at it's cheesey puns and witty observations. Overall a 9.5.

Okay, i love this game. the Fable series is one of the reasons i own an xbox.

Fable 3: 9

Review by Chris

Review- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

The picture of the game above should really be the picture next to “let down” in the dictionary.  Ill admit the First game was one of those games that hit me right as a star wars fan, as the guy who likes to do the bad things in games and to finally feel like I was wielding the power of the force. It had its problems of course; the wonky camera, repetitive combat, and the standard star wars wedged in romance.
The Force Unleashed II is centers on one of many clones of star killer who still has the memories of the original. This game was so Lucased, you could almost hear them say “How much it make? Are we making a second one? How done is it? Half way? Your done ship it out.” That maybe a bit unfair but that’s what I felt after I finished it.
Enough complaining let’s talk about its controls. They’re standard hack’em slash’em format from the first one but now he gets two light sabers. This is cool aesthetically having the ability two different color sabers adding two new abilities such as more health or force power. They have also added an unleashed mode, which sounds cool to be a raging force wielding monster, but mostly lets you not have to hold down the charge button for your force attacks and glow blue.
A major high point in the original was the variety in the environment, enemies and in the challenges. Most notably a junk planet level ending in a fight against a crazy Dr. Octopus looking fella in a Jedi temple made out of scraps of metal.  In here the coolest thing in the game is a section almost copy and pasted from the X-men Origins: Wolverine game were you try to catch a falling monster and kill it. And I’ve never felt as awesome as I did in the original fight against Vader. And this one just felt like a game of tag. Even when you get to unleash all of your force power on him its useless because he can block all force attacks hurts the brain to think about.
Finally the plot, the problem is things just are in this game. Not much is explained why, they just are.  And the main driving point of the game is something that was never established in the first game and that’s this love between star killer and Juno but does end on a good cliffhanger. But you can tell this was really only the half way point in the story with how abrupt it is ended.
Too be clear this game has fun combat at the beginning but will wear thin fighting only storm troopers with very few deviations, little change in any way, a very forced plot, and is obvious cash in on the success of the first game.
My score for Star Wars: The Force Unlashed II 4/10

Review by Blake.

Retroactive- Batman Arkham Asylum

Okay, going back a few years for this one. A little game called Batman Arkham Asylum. i'm doing this to get ready for the sequel coming out soon.

So first gameplay. the Freeflow Combat system is one of many shining jewels in this blockbuster title. i mean busting up thugs has never been more fun. The gadgets are another point that shines, from the baterang to the batclaw the gadgets are intuitive and true to their roots. The sections where you go into first person are a little weird because the your not used to or expecting the switch. other than that i give the gameplay a solid 10.

Next, Controls. sometimes the controls can be a tad wonky, but only because of the camera angle makes it difficult to judge how to move to where. other than that, the controls get a 8.5.

Now we go to the core, the plot. The plot is golden. Taking the bat and dropping him in the middle of the notorious Arkham Asylum home of the gallery of maniacs we have all come to know and love is the work of famed writer Paul Dini. The best thing is there never seems to be a slow moment if you're not beating thugs to a pulp you're listening to Oracle or trying to escape the effects of Scarecrow's fear gas. This is by far some of the best writing i have evr come across in gaming. 10.

Voice acting. bringing back fan favorite Mark Hamil to play the Joker was the best move they could make. No offense Heath Ledger but i'll stick with Mark on this one, his cackling brought goosebumps to my skin every time. the Bat himself is played by Kevin Conroy, his booming baritone of a voice sets the standard for Batman voice acting. voice acting gets a 10.

Alright, this game is near perfect aside from some loading issues and camer acontrol issues. i love this game and if you haven't played it then i highly suggest you do.

Batman Arkham Asylum: 9.5