Gaming Review: Far Cry 3

FarCry3

For future reference: when skydiving, be sure that your projected landing zone doesn’t happen to be an island full of evil pirates that are more than willing to take you hostage.  And to think I was only concerned with the parachute not opening… [Read more...]

HST’s Best of 2011: Video Games

Last but not least, here is HST’s list of favorite video games from the past year.  And what a year it was, with huge titles coming out and an epic fall season to cap off the year.  Plenty of sequels and a few new IPs to boot, so there are plenty of games to mention even without the honorable title and seat on high as the crowned favorite. [Read more...]

Gaming Review: Rage (Campaign)

rage HeaderIt is obvious why the title Rage was given to this video game.  Two seconds out of the pod and some angry albino is trying to shove a knife into my chest.  Clearly there is some much needed anger management on this planet.  Or times have definitely changed from when I was last awake. [Read more...]

Gaming Review – L.A. Noire

The sweltering summer day’s perspiration trailed down the outside pane of glass, clinging to the hope of making it inside. The scene inside was not much better. The shadow of the day cut across the wounded body of the young woman, broken and bruised from the deep cuts in her abdomen as she waits for a savior to come take the pain away.

Confession: that is me just overdramatically recreating my experience in the hospital last week post appendectomy (and much of the reason for which this review is coming late.  Well, this late…), but in all honesty it could have been setting the scene for many of the cases that make up L.A. Noire.  The game follows WWII vet Cole Phelps as he assimilates back into the real world as a detective for the LAPD.  Full of short gunfights and car chases, the main draw to L.A. Noire is the novelty and authenticity it is able to recreate in the investigative and interrogation aspects of being a detective. [Read more...]

Delayed Gaming Response – Dead Space 2

When it comes to science fiction, space is always presented as a pretty action oriented place, from space battles to asteroid fields to roaming cannibals (you thought I was going to get through that without a Firefly reference? Silly you, you thought wrong).  But from way down here where the majority of us are standing it is nothing but a whole bunch of blackness with a twinkle here and there.  Nothing but calm.  That same calm usually works its way into these space adventures, but it is in games like Dead Space 2 that this calm is something that should be feared the most, because it is in these moments that something is most likely about to go terribly wrong.

Years following the events of the first game, we find protagonist Isaac Clark wrapped tightly in a straight jacket in a hospital on one of Saturn’s moons.  Suffering from the mental degradation of dementia, he is still tormented by the loss of his girlfriend who likes to come to him in rather disturbing hallucinations.  But she is not alone as a constant memory of the past because somewhere in this city is another Marker, bringing with it yet another onslaught of the reanimated corpses that have been changed into necromorphs, violent creatures who are out to spread the love. [Read more...]

Gaming Review – Fable III

Similar to the promises made by the hero of Fable III on his path to the throne, there have been a lot of promises coming from Lionhead Studios building up the hope of the people for what this game could be upon completion:  Morphing hero weapons!  The power of touch!  An interactive “menu” that will bring those before to shame!  Now it might be a little harsh to say that the makers chose to path of evil on this one, but what they have created remains disappointing for what was expected.

The Kingdom of Albion must have quite the history book dedicated to the stories of dangers and heroes rising to protect the people from them.  This chapter is one following the rule of Logan, the son of the last great Hero and brother of the player’s character.  No matter how thick blood is, it is your task to gain the support of enough followers who will back you in your fight towards throwing Logan from his tyrannical seat on the throne.  Cue the Beatles’ “Revolution.” [Read more...]

Gaming Review – Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions

For years games starring superheroes were kind of a joke, hardly giving the player an adequate experience to live up to the hype of the character.  Then Batman: Arkham Asylum came along and showed how it should be done.  While Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions might not live up to the Caped Crusader’s game, it is still far above most of what has come before.

When Spider-man runs into Mysterio in a museum they commit a big no-no by knocking over one of the displays, shattering the object.  Though everything in the room is priceless, this object happens to have a little more to it.  Known as the Tablet of Order and Chaos, this tablet is connected to keeping the order of the universe in concern to time, spaces, dimensions, and all that jazz.  Now, in order to restore order Spider-man must search out the different pieces and put them back together again, or else the world’s destruction is far more imminent than expected. [Read more...]

Gaming Review – Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC

Throughout the Mass Effect series there have been many elusive presences in the galaxy, none more so than the Shadow Broker (the Illusive Man falls short on a spelling technicality).  Thankfully with the new DLC for Mass Effect 2, titled Lair of the Shadow Broker, we are finally getting some answers about this mysterious character. [Read more...]

Gaming Review – Mass Effect 2: Overlord DLC

The last playable DLC for Mass Effect 2 (Kasumi’s Dream) didn’t exactly cause any mass faintings due to how excited people became while playing, but with the DLC Overlord we are definitely getting the tingles. [Read more...]

Q&A Review – Mass Effect 2

Below you will find a Q&A between Lauren and myself in which we had a casual conversation over Mass Effect 2 and what we liked and disliked about the game, or expectations going in, and our outlook on the future of the series.  So take a look if you are a fan of the series or gaming after getting pumped with one of the best video game trailers in recent memory.

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