Excuse Me; But We Have A Crysis

Game Mechanics - 2/2

Storyline - 1/2

Graphics - 2/2

Soundtrack - 1.5/2

Replay Value - 1.5/2

 Total Score - 8/10

Welcome to your weekly video game review here with me your friendly neighborhood gamer; Zalgo_Cometh. Today we will be looking at the newly released Crysis 3. March is going to be a hectic month because there are so many big name titles being released its ridiculous. Its so hard to hold on to money these days as a gamer I tell you. Between being sick, paying bills, maintaining my car and trying to eat at least 2 meals a day it isn't easy on the wallet being a dedicated gamer. Here is a rundown of what you can look out for in the coming weeks: Tomb Raider, South Park: The Stick of Truth (Subject To Change), SimCity 5, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Storm 3, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Soul Sacrifice, God of War: Ascension, Gears of War Judgment, BioShock: Infinite, and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel. So you can start doing your research if you haven't already; but wait till after you get done reading this review of Crysis 3.

Crysis 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek, published by Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 and released in North America on February 19, 2013.[3] Officially announced April 14, 2012, it is the third main installment of the Crysis series, a sequel to the 2011 video game Crysis 2, and runs on the CryEngine 3 game engine. Players take on the role of Prophet as he returns to New York in 2047, 24 years after the events of Crysis 2. He discovers the city has been encased in a giant Nanodome created by the corrupt CELL corporation. The New York City Liberty Dome is a veritable urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers. Within the Liberty Dome, seven distinct and treacherous environments become known as the Seven Wonders. Prophet is said to be on a "revenge mission" after uncovering the truth behind CELL's motives for building the quarantined Nanodomes.

What’s Good:

Game Mechanics - Solid system design, heavy integration of main focal point of the game which is the suit but finds a balance so as not to make the player too overpowered that they don't find the game challenging. Another noteworthy staple point of the game mechanic is the ability to upgrade and customize specific suit power-ups to better structure the players game-play experience and suit progression.

Graphics - Second to none as always Crysis's claim to fame has always been its stellar graphics and breath taking environments. Crysis 3 is truly a technical marvel and shows that they have not lost sight of this especially for the PC gamers out there who get to put their machine builds to the test. If you can run a Crysis game on max settings then you can do any damn thing under the sun.

What’s Bad:

Story-line - Honestly I don't remember much of the Crysis story-line in detail even after having played all of them. Was just your typical run and gun first person shooter experience.

What Should Have Been Added:

I feel that maybe if they had flashback missions which played through the scenarios and stories you hear about that lead up to the world being in the current state it is instead of just dropping you in the middle of everything after being in a cryogenic state or whatever.

Final Thoughts:

Crysis 3 lives up to its predecessors and even exceeds them but not by much. Don't expect the ground breaking innovation that the first game brought to the table but do expect its calling card of mind blowing graphics that bring a tear to your eye. With enough customization options to suit and and every play-style Crysis 3 is sure to deliver a good time. Check out our game-play footage to see what I mean...

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I Hit People For A Living

Gameplay - 8/10

Storyline - 8/10

Graphics - 9/10

Game Score : 25/30

Welcome to another Friday video game review blog post, today we are going to be looking at Hitman Absolution. Before we dive into the goodness just a small public service announcement this will probably be the last video game review for 2012. Going to close off the year as always with a top ten list of games for 2012 so you can be prepared for that in the coming week. Its been a blast providing you guys with reviews and entertainment via our game-play commentary videos on our YouTube channel. So lets get into some Hitman Absolution...

Hitman: Absolution is an action-adventure stealth game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth entry in the Hitman game series, and runs on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine. Before release the developers conveyed that Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible, while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise. The game was released on November 20, 2012, which is the 47th week of the year (in reference to the protagonist, Agent 47). The game takes place in the United States, and features an online option. In addition, the game features "instinct mode" which allows 47 to predict enemy patrol routes, much like the "sonar vision" that was featured in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, "eagle vision" in Assassin's Creed, "tracker mode" in Crysis 2 and "Detective mode" in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

What’s Good:

Superb graphics, game is more accessible than previous iterations, tons of in game content to work for, great versatility in how to approach missions as well as replay value. Soundtrack really fits the tone ad scene changes as you play through the game as well. The interactivity with your environment and how you can manipulate it to progress is very well done and plays well to the motif of being a Hitman that shapes your gaming experience as you see fit. Multiple game difficultly settings to appeal to everyone from the casual gamer to the purist fan of the series.

What’s Bad:

Camera controls at times are a pain, but this is somewhat acceptable as this is a common occurrence in most third person game or it may be due to my personal preference for first person viewpoint. Scoring system penalizes you for killing unnecessarily even if it is you clean up after yourself  so no one notices. This takes away from the freedom they give you in the game and detracts from that overall experience of having total control to progress how you see fit. The instinct meter decreases and replenishes haphazardly, I noticed when I needed it I had little to none there but then randomly I would accomplish things when I didn't need it that would replenish it.

What Should Have Been Added:

I think a nice addition would have been to animate more methods of assassinations or even better yet make varying cut scenes for each assassination and then give the player a choice based on the weapons he has which cut-scene to play out.

Final Thoughts:

While in and of itself a solid gaming franchise this game caters more to the fans of the series and not necessarily newcomers who might have heard good tings about the game. There is a slight learning curve involved in fully appreciating everything that this game has to offer but that shouldn't be a deterrent to any gamers out there but instead an incentive to enjoy the game to its fullest. Hope you enjoy the game-play commentary as always and as always keep on gaming...

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