Red Faction: Guerrilla Review

When you think of interstellar tyranny and galactic civil war, Red Faction isn’t the first game that comes to mind. But when you replace those two things with Mars and unprecedented destruction, you have a different story entirely. Red Faction: Guerrilla is Volition’s third entry in the series and brings with it the most unmeasured, gratuitous destruction this generation has seen.

The story isn’t going to win any awards, but it does what it needs to do. For what it’s worth it follows Alec Mason as he arrives on Mars to work with his brother. Shortly after, the Earth Defense Force (EDF) kills his brother and targets Alec for being part of the resistance, part of the Red Faction. From here Alec is assimilated into the rebel ranks and must help them push the oppressive EDF back. The only problem is, well, the EDF has an entire army. Guerrilla warfare anyone?

Bayonetta Review - Seriously bizarre, seriously awesome

If one was to inquire about what games they should purchase for their entertainment needs titles like God of War, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and stuff like Batman: Arkham Asylum would come up undoubtedly. Bayonetta bends that talk in a unique direction but will no less be added to this list of must-play action titles. But coming from the mind of DMC creator Hideki Kamiya, that was almost a sure-fire bet anyhow. 

What’s different about it? The answer is what isn’t. Bayonetta is one of those games that’s very difficult to describe. On one hand it’s a fast and frantic action game comparable to the likes of Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. Combat is solid and undeniably fluid with plenty of combos and weapons at your disposal to prevent any onset of boredom. However, it’s over the top and exaggerated approach is unequivocally ridiculous and a considerable hook to the already excellent action.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review

As prolific as the Call of Duty games have been, the Modern Warfare adjunct has been nothing but quality work. The sequel to the overwhelmingly successful first game is certainly no slouch either. But as impressive as it is, at times Modern Warfare 2 underwhelms with familiar story-telling elements and a near nonsensical plot. Of course, if multiplayer is your deal than this won’t affect you much.

If you’ve played Modern Warfare at all, as millions can attest, you should be instantly familiar with everything the sequel has to offer. The visuals are still excellent and the frame-rate is still firmly attached to 60. There are new maps, modes, weapons, a brand new perks system, and best of all a new co-operative Spec Ops mode, as well as a new campaign to look forward to. Basically, if you enjoy shooters in the least, you should get some enjoyment out of this game.

The digital age and instruction manuals

 You might have heard by now that Ubisoft is discontinuing the use of instruction manuals and will no longer be packing them alongside our games. If you can quell the outrage for a moment you might see that Ubisoft may be on to something. Alright, not really. But honestly, who uses those things anymore? Sure they’re nostalgic and yes, sometimes they explain things a little better that the in-game tutorials, but for the majority of the time they remain unused. While Ubisoft may have been the first to initiate this act, I don’t think there’s anyone else to blame but the digital age of gaming.  

What does going digital have to do with instruction manuals you ask? A whole hell of a lot actually. Twenty, even fifteen years ago, I don’t think you’d find anyone who’d believe digital distribution was the way of the future. Yet here we are and programs like Steam are very much present and reconstructing our pastime incredibly fast. It’s not just PC programs that are taking advantage of this either. All the current-gen consoles allow for downloadable titles and the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 go beyond that with full downloadable versions of retail games, giving you the ability to skip rushing out to the store all together. It’s called convenience and it’s changed the way games are made and distributed immensely.

Think about it, most present day games are built with tutorials and, given the type of game, often have various help and “how to” menus. If you still need more insight, I know that Steam definitely allows you to download manuals with ease but would you even bother? We don’t need the things; it’s just a luxury to have them around for the sake of nostalgia. Let’s face facts here, with more and more people pressing a button to download their games the less we need the physical attachments. Of course, if you’re one of those people who just like having the cases around or simply must have the special editions of certain games, nothing will keep you away from making the drive to the store and that’s just fine.

Despite digital distribution we can live with both worlds thriving, but the loss of the manuals, while sad, isn’t widespread yet and ultimately really isn’t that big of a deal.

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