Dead Space 2

I've been looking forward to this game for awhile, and was finally able to pick it up.

Story

Without giving much away, Dead Space 2 takes place 3 years after the first, with Isaac on a mysterious ship called the Sprawl (you know it's gonna be bad already). He has no memory of the last 3 years, due to allegedly being in a coma and suffering from dementia. The game opens with him being released as the player hears screams and sees blood splattered in the background and is soon forced to flee for his life while in a straight jacket. Once he is freed, a women named Diana contacts him and says that he will die from his illnesses unless he comes to her, left with little choice, Isaac makes his way to Diana, surviving encounters with Necromorphs, insane survivors and Earth Government troops ordered to kill him.

Graphics

The graphics are excellent, when they can be seen. The game, true to its nature, is mostly littered with dark halls with very little lighting (typically coming from from candles, broken/tipped over lights, etc). When one can see the environment, it's very well designed and feels like if a outbreak like this were to occur, this is the place for it to happen. The characters are also very well done, expressions and emotions can be seen and are well crafted.

Controls

The controls, for the most part, stay the same from the first Dead Space, and are therefore, easy to master for players who've played the first. If you haven't played the first, go play it, it's like $20 if even.

Voice

One thing players will notice is that Isaac has a voice this time around, and speaks often. Both Isaac and other characters are very well done. The acting is top notch, to me anyways, and not overly dramatic or forced.

Other

Dead Space 2 does have Multiplayer in it. Not campaign wise, but for Vs. If you bought the game new, you received a code to access the online parts of the game. If you bought used, you'll need to buy a one-time pass for $10. Online consists of the Security Team trying to survive and neutralize the Necromorphs in various manners while the other team trys to kill them using one of 4 different Necros. You also level up and unlock different weapons and skills as you play.

Once the player has finished the game, they can play New Game+ which will allow them to replay the game with current weapons and upgrades, you also unlock Hardcore mode after completion. However, you can't carry data over to Hardcore mode, Hardcore will force you to start a completely new game. In Hardcore, you are given only 3 saves, and if you die, you must restart from your last save, this mode is for skilled players.

Overall

Dead Space 2 is a excellent horror game that, if you get into it, can scare the crap out of you at many points in the game.

8.0/10.0

Pros

- Great story
- Excellent execution
- One of the better horror titles out there right now

Cons

- Story can be short (finished din 8hrs, could have beaten much faster)
- Online is limited, meaning it's not as good as other games with MP

Shin Magami Tensai Imagine (MegaTen)

I've been meaning to try this F2P game since I downloaded it about a week ago, but haven't gotten around to it. Since I just played a bit of it, I'll share a bit about it. You can Download it here.

Story

First, let me say, THERE IS ONE!!!! This separates from almost ALL the other F2P MMO's out there. The story, as far as I understand it, is that in the year of 199X, a teleporter in Japan allowed Demons to enter our universe and due to this, many countries began using Nuclear weapons to fight them. Now, you can see how this may cause an issue, radiation, millions dead, etc. Much of the population was killed, and Humans and Demons fought an endless battle until a massive flood hit and killed most of the Demons. Mankind began to rebuild underground, and soon erected a massive tower on the surface. This, however, caused the Demons to return. Which is good, as this is where you, as a "Demon Buster", come in. You must kill, capture and exterminate the Demons.

Graphics

The graphics are slightly under PWI, enemies are well done, as is your character and NPCs. There is a lack of texture though, which makes it look like your character is just wearing a plastic outfit of some sort. The environment looks slightly dated, but nothing to make it a deal breaker.

UI

This may be the deal breaker, the UI is incredibly bland, very little is there, the basic of the basic, 8 buttons, that's it, and you could do without 3 of them. The map is horribly confusing and small (although you can manually make it bigger, but ugh....). The only redeeming feature is that you can link 24 skills, items, etc without switching bars by using the F1 - F12 keys.

Customization

The custom options are few, but still more than usual. You can select from 3 body types (short, tall, very tall), 6 face types (4 of which look like they are taking a dump), 10 hairstyles (which are very nice looking, if I may say so) and several variations of two shirts, pants and shoes (though this is the outfit you wear until you receive armor or other clothing. Didn't check the CS (yes, they have one too), but I'm sure there's nice clothing in there.

Other

I played for about 10 minutes, as that was all I could stand (choppy controls killed it for me), and based on what I saw, there aren't that many players on, but this seemed like a single player MMORPG, as there IS a story, there are Chapters you play through, and in the tutorial, there was nothing about inviting others to play with me. Which wouldn't have happened anyways....

One note is that there's no picking a Class right away, this is done later, you can pick a warrior, gunner or mage (no cleric/healer class apparently). And the skill tree is very in-depth, so maybe there was a support thing in there somewhere....

You can also control Demons and have them fight with you, sorta like.... Pokemon or something.

The opening was nice, as it had nice art telling me the story, and that is something I've not seen in an MMO yet, so if you can get into this game, you should definitely try it.

Overall

Based off the small time I spent playing this, it was good, but the lack of players made it feel less of an MMORPG and more like a MPGTPS (multiplayer game that plays solo, made that up right on the spot case you can't tell).

6.0/10.0

Pros

- Opening cutscene was nice
- Decent graphics
- Decent amount of customization options
- Can capture Demons
- HAS A STORY!!!!

Cons

- Feels dated
- Slow to pick up
- Few players

Perfect World International (PWI)

PWI is a free to play MMORPG that I came across not to long ago, being bored with the MMO's I've been playing, I decided to try it. You can Download it here.

Story

I wish I knew what the story was, I don't think there is one, and if there is, it's the typical, "you must save the world from great evil" that MMO's often use. Nothing special here....

Graphics

The graphics are pretty good for a F2P game, they're more realistic looking, but you can see little hiccups if you're running a crappy computer, but if you can play it, you should have decent graphics. Characters are pretty detailed (again, this is a F2P game), and animations are good. Textures are a bit generic, but that's easy to overlook and not care about.

UI

The interface is rather basic, simple and therefore a bit old. Nothing special to really learn. One button opens inventory, the others open character info, skills, etc.

Customization

I was honestly rather surprised here, normally F2P games SUCK at customization, only offering you a few hair styles, colors, races and classes, but PWI offers many options, and the ability to tweak your eyes, nose, mouth, etc to get as detailed as you want. If you're to lazy, they have pre-made ones you can go with.

Other

As one might expect, there is a cash shop where you can buy various things, but what I found interesting is that the game has an built in Auction House where you can use in game money (money you earn in game, not money you have to buy with real money) to buy special items (granted that these items are for high level characters).

The population seems to be on the fence, plenty of players, but most are high leveld and therefore won't bother playing with new players.

There are guilds, instances, and more to keep you busy, but the quests are repetitive and the map is very very crappy. The map doesn't display enemy locations, but if you open a quest and click the enemy name, you will begin running to it automatically (which is nice), but it'd be nice to be able to see where they are without doing that.

Overall

This is a fun alternative to some other games, if I had to give it a score, I'd give it a....

7.0/10.0

Pros

- Nice graphics
- Plenty of customization options
- Auto find option for enemies
- Easy for new players to get into

Cons

- Dumbed down UI
- High level players dominate the game
- Map isn't very helpful