Ready to hear about some Gears?! Alright, well go get ready. I’ll wait. Just don’t make us late this time. Your mother will get furious! In this episode, Landon, Ivan, and David sit down (or maybe we’re standing. You’ll never know!) to discuss the Gears of War trilogy, ending with our sexy impressions of the latest installment. Remember how we said this podcast would be shorter? Neither do we. That’s why I’m giving you my scouts honor (whatever that means) that our next podcast will FINALLY be shorter. Until then, just enjoy the soothing sounds of our mouth noises for an hour. Email us and tell us what you think! Subscribe to us on iTunes here!
Crimson Alliance Review: Get Your Swords Sharpened
The simplicity lets any type of gamer jump in, but has the depth for veterans of the genre. It has simple controls for all three of characters: X is a standard attack, Y is a Stun Attack, B is a Defensive strike, and A is a Dash move. Even though it sounds simple, the controls can get tricky to master.
Co-op is a big deal in Crimson Alliance. The four-player co-op, either on the same system or over Xbox Live, allows you to always have someone to play with. There are some secret passages that require more than one person to get past and some doors that only open to a certain class, but the game can be completed in single player. You will want one of each class playing just so you don’t miss out on any secrets.
Sharing is caring in this game. You don’t have to fight your teammates for gold. Any gold one player picks up, everyone gets. The gold is important to upgrade your character. You don’t level up or get stronger in this game. It’s all about the weapons. You buy new weapons and clothing to make your moves stronger and give yourself more health. Some weapons have added abilities like lighting strikes or extra damage to certain enemies.Crimson Alliance isn’t perfect for all. It does have some issues that are hard to overlook: camera is way too far out, all characters must stay in the same area, it’s hard to target enemies with ranged attacks, and without a real level up system, it is hard to feel the progression of your character. But, as a gamer who doesn’t play many dungeon crawlers, I do feel this game had what I was looking for in a social environment. I was playing with friends and it wasn’t so easy I felt like I was playing a child’s game.
Also, there is a new level that will bring new missions that are perfect for co-op. It will add new loot, new enemies, and new challenges. It is coming out October 12th for only 240 points ($3).
Gears of War 3 Review: Please Check Life In At the Door
The campaign starts about 2 years after you sunk Jacinto at the end of the last game. The COG military has collapsed and everyone is doing their part to gather whatever supplies necessary to survive. You play Marcus Fenix once again and assemble a team to kick some locust ass all over the planet Sera. The story kicks off with a data disk Fenix receives from the former COG chairman. The disk holds a video message from his father saying he knows how to stop the locusts, and it has something to do with Imulsion (Sera’s version of oil and the cause of 80 years of world conflict before the locusts showed up). The most curious detail in the video comes from daddy Fenix looking older than when they thought he died. Marcus sets out to find his father and unravel the secret behind what he was talking about.
For the first time in the series, you can grab three friends and hop right into the campaign (Previous installments only allowed two player co-op). The feature is nice but I can’t help but think it was a bit of a wasted opportunity. The first Gears ushered in a new era of co-op, allowing players to work together in ways besides just splitting up enemies to shoot. One player could hold a spotlight on the other so he wouldn’t get devoured by the game’s night loving critters. Some levels had you taking separate paths to open doors for each other in order to progress. It was a type of co-op I hadn’t seen in shooters and couldn’t wait for more. I expected Gears of War 3 to carry exciting new sequences like this with four players, but the amount of split paths and separate jobs are dramatically less than before. You still split up sometimes, but it’s always 2 and 2. Where’s my cool X-Men moments that can only happen with four people helping each other out? The feature definitely feels like just a way to get four players into the campaign instead of an exciting new opportunity for fresh gameplay.
The single player still packs a punch (did I just say that?) and delivers quality set pieces and theaters of war that rival the best shooters out there. Every act is full of something memorable and screams for multiple play throughs. As if this wasn’t enough, Epic also crafted us the best Gears multiplayer experience to date. As soon as you’re done ripping through the story, you can duke it out in competitive multiplayer, crush some A.I. in Horde Mode, or crush even more A.I. in the brand new Beast Mode.
If player vs. player bores you, hop in to Horde where fifty waves of A.I. locusts are just dying to get their head blown off by you. The Horde Mode, first introduced in Gears of War 2, allows you and four friends to fight as soldiers against the A.I. locusts in waves. At wave fifty, the game ends and the victory chants ensue. In Gears of War 2, the explanation could pretty much stop there. In Gears of War 3, there’s a lot more at your disposal. There is now an entire economy to get lost in as you fight the good fight. Every enemy you kill in horde gives you money. Money buys defenses (turrets, spikes, ammo). Buying defenses unlocks more powerful ordinance over time. This adds a whole new level to Horde and keeps you coming back. Your unlocks carry over from match to match, so you’ll want to hop back in numerous times just to see every piece of equipment you can acquire. A new unlock is a new cool way to rip a locust apart.
A brand new mode called Beast allows you to do the same thing from a different perspective. You are a part of the locust horde, charging towards a group of defending soldiers with your grotesque brethren at your side. Kill every last human you see. Unfortunately, Beast mode isn’t nearly as robust as Horde 
Gears of War 3 is a fantastic shooter. It boasts a quality campaign everyone should play, with an online component that will keep you engaged for months. With the promise of DLC, it’s likely you’ll keep this disc in your Xbox for a long time. It isn’t without its flaws. The co-op could have been better, online modes could have been more plentiful, and Beast mode felt like an afterthought. However, each one of these is instantly forgettable when you’re screaming at your friends and blasting away grunts until 4am. Buy Gears of War 3. Love Gears of War 3. Ignore all of life’s responsibilities. Instant bliss is guaranteed.
Cast Five!
Think our other podcasts were lame? So did we! That’s why you have to listen to this one because it’s WAY better. That, or this is just a ploy to get you to listen this week’s episode. Either way, suck it. We know we said it would be much sorter this time, but we’re all a sexy group of liars. This episode turned out about as long as the others. Next time it will turn out to be shorter. We promise. No more empty promises. Not from these sexy liars. In this episode, we talk about TGS! Everything you want to know about the barrage of Vita and DS announcements right here. Email us and tell us what you think. Subscribe to us on iTunes here! Thanks for listening!
G-Cast!! Episode Foooooore!!!
The first four G-Cast episodes have been removed from our rss feed because we feel they don’t represent the quality we want for our show. They were meant to be test episodes from the beginning and will still be available to listen to or download on the site. So, if you’re really curious about how the G-Cast all started, click the link below… I warned you though.
Listen to Episode 4 here (right click to download).
Original Description:
It is here! The fourth and final test episode of G-Cast. In this bundle of ridiculously sexy sounds, we talk about the third party’s press conferences (Ubisoft and EA) and touch a little bit on Germany’s Gamescom. We’ll be discussing Battlefield 3, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Mass Effect 3, and more. Next Friday will be the first episode of what G-Cast will probably sound like from here on out. The events will be recent and the episodes will be shorter. What’s that you say? Every moment you get to hear our voices is a gift from god? What you say may be is definitely true, but we think some people might find a 30-40 minute podcast ideal (unless we get a ridiculous amount of emails/comments opposing this). Next week, we will be covering TGS and talking about what pieces of news caught our eye. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes here!
343 Announces Headlong (giggity!)
With TGS in full swing, there has been a lot of game news. Despite being in Japan, Microsoft wasted no time showing off a new Halo 2 map for Halo: CE Anniversary.
Breakneck: It was called Headlong back in Halo 2. This was one of the more interesting maps from the
Other maps that have been announced before are:
Timberland: From Halo: CE on PC. For many of us Halo Fans, this will be the first time playing on this map, but for some of us, it will bring back warm fuzzy moments of playing Halo: CE online with mouse and keyboard. This map was on the bigger side. It could hold 16 players nicely and had a lot of vehicles to play around with. I didn't get to play this level as much as I would have liked, so it’s nice to hear it’s coming back.
Prisoner: From Halo: CE, and one of my personal favorites, Prisoner is a very tall map with many ramps and ladders leading up to the top. The vertical gameplay made this one of my favorite Juggernaut maps. You could feel like a Predator looking down on your prey. Maybe even feeling bad about what you are about to do to them, but knowing that won't stop you. Prisoner is going to be a fun map to go back to and try out some new game-types with.
Installation 04: The new Firefight map. This area is taken out of the second level of the Halo: CE campaign. At the end of that level, you are asked to defend your position until pelicans arrive to rescue you and a group of trapped marines. It supports ally AI players that fight alongside you (a first for Firefight). So whether you are playing alone, or with friends, it will be a fun place to defend over and over again.
Damnation: Another map that I loved. With a giant waterfall flowing right into a Covenant base, and being one of the tallest maps in the game, made this a map to be remembered! It has plenty of good vantage points for snipers or close quarters for down and dirty shotgunners. This level had it all except 
Battle Creek: Most people know it as Beaver Creek in Halo 2. This was a small confined space that was easy to memorize but hard to master. I played more CTF matches on this map than any other, and was the most played at all my LAN parties. I bet you can’t find a single Halo fan that doesn’t have a story on this level. I can't wait to storm the creek once more.
It was also announced that there will be two versions of each map. The Classic version and the Enhanced version. The Classic version stays true to the original map. Enhanced versions, have been changed to incorporate the armor abilities from Reach. The Halo: CE pistol will be making a comeback as well. In gametypes named “Anniversary,” the pistol will become the Halo: CE pistol with 3 shot kills. We will have a full review when Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary releases November 15th 2011.
Trenched Review
Trenched doesn’t work quite like every other game in its category. Instead of building defenses from a top down view, you get to join the fight alongside your turrets to play a more direct role in your victory. You control a mech called a Trench and pack copious amounts of guns and ammo allowing you to blast the enemy away 3rd person shooter style. Unfortunately, because you’re on the ground at all times, setting up your defenses isn’t quite as easy as top down versions of the genre. Every emplacement and upgrade requires you to run to the desired location to deploy. You won’t find any streamlined management of your defenses here.
However, being on the ground does have some advantages. Your Trench is fully upgradable with a healthy selection of weapons and emplacements you can choose before every mission. Any enemy you kill earns you XP and helps you gain levels. This unlocks new equipment and makes certain enemies easier to deal with. The end of every mission awards you with a nice wad of cash to be spent on all those fancy weapons you just unlocked. You can even eventually upgrade your Trench’s legs to make running all over the battle field a little less inconvenient. With the benefit of XP grinding, you can replay old levels to gain more money and experience to make later levels a little easier.
Trenched doesn’t have much of a story to tell. An evil scientist of some sort wants to destroy the U.S. army so he can use his advanced radio creatures to broadcast his message of… evil. This isn’t too much of a disadvantage because this kind of game doesn’t really need much more than that. The gameplay is where it counts.
Defend structures. Get money. Buy weapons. Defend more structures. This formula is fun but does get slightly repetitive. New enemies and defenses are constantly being introduced to prevent all the levels from blending together, but it only goes so far before you feel like doing something else. Luckily, Trenched doesn’t exploit this flaw. As soon as you’re done with it, it’s done with you. Not too long and plenty of fun, but you can’t help but think you should have gotten a little more for $15.
Out of all three of Schafer’s recent downloadable games (Costume Quest, Stacking, Trenched) this is probably my least favorite. However, it is still very entertaining and I enjoyed every minute I played. It even reminds me of how the brutal legend RTS sequences should have been (another game genre typically played top down, but retooled in a 3rd person view). If you had trouble with those levels, don’t worry, the 3rd person angle is a much better fit for tower defense. If you’re a fan of the genre and want to play something new but familiar, buy it. If not, you can survive waiting until it falls in price a little.
Button Wars: The Reckoning
Ever since the Wii was announced, we got a look at a new controller unlike anything before it. It looked like a T.V. remote (first thought in my mind). Never in a million years could figure out how I would use such a thing to manipulate Mario or Zelda. I was far from what you would call a “believer.” This, of course, was before Miyamoto famously demonstrated the remote as a baton, conducting a symphony of Mii’s on stage. This event converted a lot of doubt in to excitement for this new revolution.
However, this event didn’t convert everyone. Even after play testing, many hard core gamers would still argue pressing a button is easier, faster, and more efficient than flailing your arms. Unfortunately for these people, the war on buttons was just beginning, and there was more wand swinging on the horizon.
If you’ve been playing games for a long time like me (i.e. no life) you probably don’t have any issues with two thumb sticks and 12 buttons. Unfortunately, your neighbor down the street, who hasn’t played a game since Asteroids, would never touch such a beast. Nintendo knew this and took action. Games could have continued to grow more complicated with more buttons and better graphics, but your gameless neighbor would have been left behind. You might say “Who the fuck cares?” and I might say the same thing, but I’m not as malicious as you are. Unfortunately, Nintendo cares. Anyone not playing a game is a lost wad of cash, and thanks to Nintendo’s success, Sony and Microsoft care too.
No. After the senseless beatings of the Wii’s success and the announcement of the Kinect and Move, hardcore gamers take another big kick in the nuts. Microsoft’s first party line up is very different now than it was three years ago. This past E3, Microsoft gave us a press conference that was 90% Kinect. In 2007, Microsoft’s hardcore titles were countless. Today, Halo and Gears seem to be the only titles meant for the hardcore. Fable looks to have gone casual, and every other title was full of jumping and kicking.
Sony didn’t go as nuts as Microsoft. They had some motion control titles at E3, but they still showed off quite a bit of their serious side. Sony has also made an effort to try and implement motion in titles previously thought to be impossible without a controller. I still prefer the controller, but at least Sony isn’t trying to leave the hardcore completely in the dust.
The war is in full force and it’s not looking good for me and my button loving brethren. I have no problem playing motion games from time to time. I play with non-gamer friends and the family. However, hardcore games are my bread and butter. I love experiences too complex for a couple buttons and an arm swing. Mom and dad can have all the table tennis they want, as long as I can still run home to my shooters. This is where I feel a threat.
So many companies have realized the growing market in motion gaming, I’m dying from hardcore withdrawals. Suffering through an E3 with even more motion games than the year before it, I fear the hardcore market might keep getting smaller and smaller as more casual gamers decide it’s easy to dance in front of a camera.
Persona 4 news makes me want to *bleep*
I’ve got a rager like none! And the culprit’s name is Atlus. They have never failed me. Ever. With the announcement of a Persona fighting game in the works, I have erected a giant monument of Jack Frost in my black heart.
Working together with Arc System Works- the guys behind the Guilty Gear and Blazblue series- Atlus is co-devloping a Persona-based fighter for the X360 and the PS3, and is expected to be available in Japan by next Summer. Thanks to Famitsu, Several screenshots have been released, and it’s just so erogenous! So check them out (since we don’t have any rights to post those pics on here... yet!)!
The only characters confirmed so far are the Protagonist, Chie, Yosuke, and Aegis along with their corresponding Personas. The game will include both Persona 3 and 4 characters, but hopefully will not be limited to just the two (DLC anyone?). I can’t wait to see how Atlus will play this one out! And I can’t wait to play as Yuka-tan! Heh heh heh...
The other major announcement is the remake of Persona 4 for the Vita entitled Persona 4: The Golden. The game will include a new dungeon, a new character, a new support system, and a new dialogue. It is not expected to be an FES version like what Persona 3 had, but it should be a fresher experience like the PSP version of Persona 3. It is set to hit Japan in the Spring!
I will be keeping an eye out for any more news regarding this, but make sure to check out the Tokyo Game Show for any new info!
The First Episode of G-Cast is Live!
The first four G-Cast episodes have been removed from our rss feed because we feel they don’t represent the quality we want for our show. They were meant to be test episodes from the beginning and will still be available to listen to or download on the site. So, if you’re really curious about how the G-Cast all started, click the link below… I warned you though.
Listen to Episode 1 here (right click to download).
Original Description:
Hello Cruel World! This is the first episode of G-Cast. In this episode, we dive into E3 2011 and talk about Microsoft’s press conference. We talk about Kinect, Gears of War, and give the company our official grade for this year’s show. The first 4 episodes of this podcast are very much our “test” episodes. The subject matter is a little outdated and we were testing to see what sounded the best to record with while figuring out the format of our show. After the fourth episode, we will launch into more recent events and get into what the show will sound like for the weeks to come. We hope you find our opinions interesting enough to come back next week when we talk about Nintendo’s press conference.
L.A. Noire Solves the Mystery of Boredom
You play Cole Phelps, an L.A. cop in the 40’s, hot off the heels from fighting in the pacific theatre in WW2. It is an open world game, but almost doesn’t need to be. The cases are linear and there isn’t a whole lot you can do on the side except the occasional call from dispatch to go take care of a robbery or two. As you play the game and solve cases, you get promoted to detective and get to work traffic, Homicide, Vice, and Arson. Some job are better than others (Homicide is always a thrill), but the game does a good job of keeping the cases different so you won’t get bored.
Once you get to the scene, you’re given as much time as you please to roam around the crime scene and investigate clues. You’re welcomed by a little rumble of the controller every time you pass by a piece of evidence that might be crucial to the case. The game allows you to pick up objects and use the thumb sticks to turn it every which way to look for any clues that might be written or engraved on it. These quiet moments are very satisfying and really does a good job tricking you into thinking you did some awesome detective work (the hallmark of any great game). As you investigate, every clue is automatically recorded in your notebook. Everything gets recorded pertaining to the case at hand: The locations of the crimes, People of interest (suspects), and clues. This comes in handy during the interrogations.
After investigating (or before, but that’s sloppy) you can talk to your suspects and ask them questions. When your suspect answers your question, you have three choices. You can say he/she is telling the truth, doubt the answer (meaning you don’t believe him but don’t have any evidence to prove it), or say they’re lying. Claiming someone is lying requires you cite a piece of evidence in your notebook that proves they are a dishonest scumbag. Every actor in the game had their performance captured with high definition cameras to ensure a realistic experience during questioning. Their face looks eerily accurate and you can see the subtleties of their performance. It is a little blurry and not perfect, but it certainly does it’s job. If they have something to hide, they usually won’t look you in the eye, or they’ll appear nervous. Some of the actors overdo this more than others, but I guess some people are better liars than others in real questioning too, so it kind of works out.
Sometimes I ran into a problem where I would present a piece of evidence to prove the suspect is lying, but I guess it wasn’t the “correct” choice. I had this happen to me while playing Phoenix Wright as well. Sometimes, certain pieces of evidence make sense in my head as a contradiction, but i guess no one else shares the same logic. Only time will tell if this is my problem (probably) or everyone else’s, but it did get slightly annoying knowing that some of the evidence choosing was guess work rather than the pure logic of your investigations.
Another slight qualm, the story misses its mark a few times. Without giving too much away, the main character makes some questionable decisions that puts his name in jeopardy and seems unprovoked. It isn’t until this point that you realize they haven’t spent that much time building the characters enough for you to really care. Every so often, the game will flashback to the war, but all of these sequences are short and almost feel like they’re just spewing information rather than telling a story. This all leads up to an ending that will leave you with a feeling of “um… okay.”
The gameplay is more than solid and makes for an amazing experience, and if you’re from the L.A. area, the world is very accurate. There are no freeways, because it’s the 40’s, but you’ll be able to navigate the streets if you spend enough time downtown. The face capture technology is new and unique and offers gameplay that would otherwise be impossible (plus if you’re a big fan of Mad Men, it’s almost a complete reunion). Despite the troubles I have with some of the clues or the story, this game still deserves to be bought and played. There are very few games in existence that allow you to feel like a detective and even fewer that does as good a job as this. With the promise of DLC, it’s a game you’ll enjoy having on your shelf for months to come.