Found a new way to fund my gaming habit

Hey again guys. Just thought I'd point out my new banner ad at the top of the page hosting a gpt site. Now, aside from the urine jokes from a site called instantpp, gpt sites allow you to fill out quick ads and get money, which then you can instantly withdraw via paypal. The site is new, so the frequent contests are easy to win because there are only like 50 active members (rough guess to be honest). Anyhow it's really great when you see a steam sale for cheap games that sound nice for like two bucks, and you can fill out a few ads and withdraw it instantly and buy them. The owner of this site has made other gpt sites I've checked out and they've cumulatively given me literally about 160 dollars for doing almost no work and focusing on the contests. In fact, I just recently used it to gain enough money to buy Atom Zombie Smasher on steam while it was on sale, which I must say is a great game that I will be using in a review in the nearby future. Well, just thought I'd share, but please at least click the banner above and check it out. If you have any questions feel free to PM me or hit up the shout box and the helpful community can usually point you to where to start. Peace out!

Sorry I've been gone for a while

I went camping in Dayton Ohio this weekend and checked out the National Air Force Museum.  Anyways, onto the Dead Rising 2 review!

Fortunately that is not a photograph from my trip. That, my friends, is Dead Rising 2. If you have played the first one, then you already know that mindless zombie killing is great fun, and the second is no exception. Dead Rising 2 starts off with an even more retarded story line, where the zombies are used for a game show called "Terror is Reality". You play as Chuck Greene, and must save your daughter and uncover the truth when the game show goes wrong and zombies are released on Las Vegas. Now the story is probably the most bland and uninteresting tales I've ever heard, but the game play totally makes up for it. The new big thing is combo weapons, and you can combine random items to make badass killing machines like normally useless boxing gloves with a bowie knife to make wolverine claws. Game-play is pretty much the same with the shooting redone a bit. and a larger world. The psychopaths and time limit and survivors all fall into the same line as the first, but still manages to satisfy, being slightly more content heavy and having a new system of purchasing weapons and upgrades with money you can earn online or from the slots and general game progress. One of the biggest let downs is that there is no infinite mode, leaving for much less replay value than the first. the worst part about it is how stupid Capcom is for finally adding in co-op which makes the game twice as amazing, yet no co op infinite mode let alone infinite mode by itself. There are rumors of one being developed for DLC but I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Another thing that annoys me is that it seems that by the end of the game, when you add up all the weapons you can find there really are only a few useful ones, while in the first Dead Rising they seemed to be limitless. Also Capcom still has the time feature, where you must quickly escort survivors and complete side missions because you only have three in game days to finish it, which can get irritating when you just want to kill zombies for a while. Plus the difficulty is a let down, and on my first run I was able to do every case and side mission presented to me without a problem without the challenge of time management. The multiplayer is actually pretty fun, though repetitive and undeveloped. Its only purpose is to get more money to use in singleplayer, and only several people play at a time and can get hard to find a game. It basically consists of 3 random mini games followed by slicycles, and the highest score gets the most money to use in singleplayer. It is actually quite fun and I wish Capcom developed it a bit more to encourage more people to continue playing it for more fun unlockables.

The Good:
+ Good fun smash n' slash gameplay
+ Good amount of gameplay hours with some replay value
+ Capcom finally added co-op, a much needed feature
+ Weapon combos are a very nice creative touch to the zombie franchise

The Bad:
- Ridiculous  story with poor predictable ending
- No infinite mode
- Fun multiplayer, but undeveloped and purposeless
- A bit too easy

The Verdict:
Dead Rising 2 offers a great game for people who need a game to focus on for a few weeks, you can pick it up and get right into the killing. It is great fun with or without co-op, and I promise if you enjoyed the first one you will enjoy every minute of this game regardless of the minor setbacks. 8/10 for lack of infinite mode and some stupid mistakes by Capcom. I'd borrow or rent if you can for a while, don't think its worth more than 20-30 bucks.

Yeah, It's kinda like that

Take a simple game concept of portals, combine it with FPS elements, and add Valve's historic magical touch to it and you get the recipe for one of the greatest games ever: Portal. Portal puts you in the shoes of Chell, who wakes up in a contained facility controlled by unseen observers and narrated by a critical robot named Glados. I don't want to ruin the story, but things get a little creepy and crazy, and manages to keep you interested all the way to the end. The puzzles start out as easy as putting a box on a button to open up the door to the next level, but get more intense over time as different methods get elaborated on such as the infinite fall. Eventually there are hazards such as turrets and energy balls that easily can kill you, and you need to use your portals to control these hazards such as having the turrets shoot each other. A few times you can get stuck and frustrated, but you will always find a way out to the next level. If the game proves too easy however, there are challenge levels that are near impossible. A few times I feel like I cheated because of how ridiculous the method to solve the puzzle was. The best part of the game though was the atmosphere. As soon as you feel that the white tiled surroundings may look boring, the game changes it up a bit and keeps it looking fresh. For fifteen bucks, this eight-hour memorable masterpiece will hopefully get you as excited as I am for Portal 2.

The Good:
+ Great story-easy to follow yet keeps you interested and entertained by the mystery of your surroundings.
+ Innovative gameplay-portals are a very simple concept, but made into a game, you will never forget the first time you walk through a portal and see yourself on the other side. Incredibly entertaining and perfectly executed. The combination of puzzle and reflex elements is excellent.
+Good difficulty-advanced levels will satisfy anyone looking for serious challenges, but if they are too difficult there is no real reward for beating them. The main levels are easy enough for anyone to eventually figure out.

The Bad:
- Only real downside is the ending is somewhat of a let down and doesn't satisfy the curiosity and only makes you want a sequel. The story seems like a demo for the upcoming Portal 2, which will hopefully follow up on these questions.

Final Verdict: 8/10. I would recommend purchasing if you are looking for a new game to keep you busy for a while, but the lack of replay value makes me suggest that you rent it or borrow it from a friend.

Off the Wall (VVVVVV Review)

Now that I've reviewed Crysis I thought that I would try the other end of the gaming spectrum: platformers. It's been a few months since I've beaten six-v, but it is quite a memorable game. I enjoyed it just as much throughout the whole thing, there were no boring parts whatsoever. The story begins with Captain Viridian with his shipmates, and you run into a problem with the ship which transports you and your crew all over the ship and sometimes in a different dimension. the goal is to find the rest of your crew through the sometimes ridiculous obstacles and get the hell out of there.  This game maybe look like your traditional platformer, but there is a catch-no jumping. Instead of hopping over barriers, you must hit the spacebar to change gravity from up to down as often as you like. Now reevaluate that picture-it seems much harder doesn't it? This can also work to your advantage, as you can sometimes just walk by certain enemies by walking on the ceiling. The game gets progressively harder, but it is honestly the PERFECT difficulty for anyone. It is easy enough where you won't become bored and give up at difficult points, but hard enough where it presents some challenge for even the most experienced gamer. You can also adjust the difficulty in a way, because most of the challenge comes from collecting artifacts which unlock new songs and modes, but you can skip them if they prove to be too tough and come back to them when you get better. Even if you think they are too hard to get you aren't missing out on much, just the ability to listen to the songs on demand and if you collect them all you get a secret area with a few goodies, but the reward is enough where if you enjoy the game you will attempt to get them all. One of the greatest features is how the world is set up. You can check your map and see what "square" you are in and what squares you have been in before so you never get lost and know where you need to go next. The indirect path of completion makes it feel much more like a sandbox game or like one of the Legend of Zelda games because you can go wherever you please, and if you aren't sure where to go next just head for an undiscovered square in your map. Not to mention that the music in this game is phenomenal chip-tune music. I've never really been a fan of the genre but I absolutely love it.  As for replay value there isn't much once you get all of the artifacts, but it is a surprisingly memorable experience for such a simple looking game. I don't think I've played anything quite like it. It may be a short game (about 7 hours) but it's definitely worth the five bucks on Steam. Let's sum this all up.


The Good:
+ Innovative gameplay elements
+ Well needed "Pixel" genre game
+ Great fitting music for the Atmosphere
+ Simple yet attention-grabbing story

The Bad:
-The game is pretty much perfect,  but I'd pay for either a sequel or if the story was lengthier
-Could use more minigame unlocks

Final Thoughts: Great game, Great price. Would absolutely recommend purchasing this. 9/10

Howdy (Crysis 2)

Now that we've got that situated, I guess I'll start off my blog with a review of the Crysis 2 demo. I didn't expect much when I first downloaded it a few days ago, just wanted to see how well my computer could play it. But Jesus Christ, my computer couldn't run Minecraft as well as it ran Crysis. The graphics were absolutely stunning, and it dropped me right into the action pretty much. It's pretty much COD mixed with Crackdown-all the fun of leveling your character up, but you can jump thirty feet into the air and turn invisible. I would probably pay thirty bucks just for the demo, and I had no interest in it before I noticed a friend playing it-that's how good it is. I really have no complaints with it, even the nano-suit which I thought would have a steep learning curve was easy to get used to, you can turn invisible or add extra armor at the touch of a button. After a few rounds of getting my ass kicked, I felt right at home and started climbing the leader boards. I really enjoyed the unlock system, as it gives a much more indirect path than COD because you can select which guns to unlock and really spec out to different gameplay styles. I personally prefer to grab a shotgun and stealth up myself, but every strategy seems to work with no balancing issues. So far, with just a demo to persuade me, I know that I am DEFINITELY adding this to the list of games to buy. Even if my review doesn't convince you, you can at least try the demo for free to see for yourself.